The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
