The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
