The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
