The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership 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 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
