The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
