The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
