The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers 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 consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
