The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
