The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
