The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
