The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
