The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
