Cubs’ World Series victory generates bumper audience

The Chicago Cubs’ decisive victory over the Cleveland Indians in game seven of this year’s World Series attracted the largest audience for Major League Baseball’s end-of-season showpiece since 1991.

According to media data measurement company Nielsen, the final game of the series attracted a peak of just under 50 million viewers to US network Fox between 11.30pm and 11.45pm eastern time.

An average of about 40 million viewers tuned in for the game, with no other contest during this year’s series having reached more than 23.6 million viewers.

Last year's five-game World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets pulled in an average of 14.7 million viewers per game.

In 1991, game seven of the World Series between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves generated an audience of 50.3 million, Nielsen added.