The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
