The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
