The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
