The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
