The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
