The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
