The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
