The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 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 reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
