The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last 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 Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
