The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
