World Series Game 7 Is Most-Watched Since 2017 in Initial Ratings

Game 7 of the World Series was big on drama as the Dodgers survived the Blue Jays to become the first repeat World Series winner in 25 years—and Fox was a major beneficiary. 

The network says that according to preliminary viewership data, the Dodgers’ 5–4 win over the Blue Jays in 11 innings Saturday averaged 25.98 million viewers in the U.S. across all Fox platforms, representing the most-watched World Series game since 2017’s Game 7 won by the Astros over the Dodgers.

This is a fast-national number from Nielsen, along with data from Adobe Analytics, and is not a final figure reflecting Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process. That figure, along with audience data from Canadian broadcasters Sportsnet and TVA Sports, is expected in the coming days. 

Still, the initial viewership number from Fox reflects just how much of a draw the deciding World Series game was.

The Blue Jays were just two outs away from securing their first championship in 32 years, but a game-tying home run in the ninth inning by Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas dramatically swung the game in favor of Los Angeles, and a go-ahead home run from catcher Will Smith two innings later sealed it. 

As that unfolded, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto returned to the mound after starting and throwing six innings in Game 6 to close out Game 7 en route to winning World Series Most Valuable Player.

“To do what we’ve done in this span of time is pretty remarkable,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, referring to the team’s back-to-back titles and three in six seasons. “I guess I’ll let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it’s a dynasty or not, but I’m pretty happy with where we’re at.”

Among the other milestones from the initial Game 7 viewership data:

• The Dodgers-Blue Jays game beat the last World Series Game 7, 2019’s clash between the Nationals and Astros, in viewership by 10%.
• The game peaked on Fox with an audience of 31.5 million, with that happening between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m.
• The Game 7 average audience beats the draw from the deciding Game 5 in last year’s World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers, another major draw among recent Fall Classics, by 40%.
• The contest’s linear audience beat Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June on ABC between the Pacers and Thunder in viewership by 53%.

Notably, this has all been achieved as this year’s World Series matchup only had one U.S. home market measured by Nielsen, leading to expected drops in American viewership during the initial five games of the series. More than countering that, however, was record-setting viewership on Canada’s Sportsnet, owned by Blue Jays parent company Rogers Communications, as the entire nation gravitated to their home team. 

Games 6 and 7, in which the Dodgers became just the ninth MLB team to win those games on the road to win the World Series, then took the audience to an entirely different level.

“This World Series really demonstrates why it’s not just spin when we (and the NBA) say length of series matters more than matchup,” tweeted Fox Sports president of insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill. “Average viewership for this series will end up pretty close to [Yankees-Dodgers] last year, but we got 60% more innings. Makes all the difference.”