The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 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 viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
