The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
