The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
