The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
