The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
