The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
