The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 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 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
