The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
