Thanks to the Chicago Cubs and their first championship in 108 years, Fox’s telecast of the seventh and deciding game of the World Series was watched Wednesday by an average of 40.04 million viewers. The Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings, winning the series four games to three after being down three games to one. It was the largest audience for a Major League Baseball game since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when the Minnesota Twins became world champions with a walk-off win against the Atlanta Braves. Wednesday’s Game 7 audience topped the 34.4 million viewers who watched the ABC’s Feb. 28 telecast of the 88th Annual Academy Awards. The Oscars ceremony is typically the second-most-watched program of the year behind the Super Bowl, which this year averaged 112 million viewers on CBS.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 03, 2016 22:26 UTC