The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
