The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
