The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
