The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
