The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership 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 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
