The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
