The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous 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 seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
