The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 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 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
