The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
