The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
