The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
