The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M 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 viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
