The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’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 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
