The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
