Cleveland – In what will go down as one of the greatest baseball games ever played, the 2016 Chicago Cubs closed the book on the franchise’s 108-year championship drought with a thrilling 8-7, extra-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series, Wednesday night on FOX. The World Series-clinching triumph placed an emphatic exclamation point on a playoff run that captivated the nation and marked the summit of a memorable Major League Baseball postseason that produced impressive audience figures through each of its four rounds. According to data released by Nielsen Media Research, World Series Game 7 delivered a massive 21.8/37 household rating/share with 40.045 million viewers.

Remarkably, last night’s telecast is now the most-watched baseball game of any kind since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins (50.3 million viewers) and ranks as the most-watched baseball telecast in FOX Sports’ history.

Compared to World Series Game 7 in 2014 between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals, last night’s game showed a +70% gain on average audience (40.0 million vs. 23.5 million) and a +58% increase in household rating (vs. 13.7/22).

As the intensity and drama grew throughout the deciding, winner-take-all contest, so too did the audience, peaking with a 27.1/48 household rating with 49.9 million viewers between 11:30 PM – 11:45 PM ET.

World Series Game 7 on Wednesday night also outperformed 2014’s Game 7 by a wide margin in all of the key male demographics, including M12-17 (+83%; 7.7 vs. 4.2), M18-34 (+81%; 12.5 vs. 6.9), M18-49 (+75%; 14.9 vs. 8.5), and M25-54 (+72%; 16.7 vs. 9.7). In A18-49, Game 7 is up +91% compared to 2014 (12.6 vs. 6.6).

As of last night, FOX is now the No. 1 network among A18-49 this season, with the 2016 World Series ranking as the No. 1 primetime program in all of television (LSD). Last night’s contest projects to be FOX’s best Wednesday night ever in primetime.

2016 World Series – Game 7 Highlights

– FOX Sports estimates that more than 75 million viewers tuned in to see all-or-part of the Cubs’ dramatic Game 7 victory on Wednesday night.

– Game 7 netted a 21.8/37 rating/share and an average audience of 40.045 million viewers.

– Between FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports GO, World Series Game 7 delivered a combined average of 40.9 million viewers.

– Marked FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched telecast of any kind since the NFC Championship in January 2016.

2016 World Series – Seven-Game Totals

– Combining average audiences for each of the seven games, more than 115 million viewers watched all-or-part of the 2016 World Series on FOX and FOX Deportes.

– The 2016 World Series on FOX averaged an astounding 13.1/23 rating/share and 23.4 million viewers, ranking as the highest-rated and most-watched World Series since 2004’s 15.8/26 and 25.4 million viewers for the Boston Red Sox-St. Louis Cardinals series (four games).

– Compared to the 2014 World Series that also went a full seven games, the 2016 Fall Classic showed a +60% increase over 2014’s average rating/share (13.1/23 vs. 8.2/14) and a +70% gain in average audience (23.4 million viewers vs. 13.8 million viewers).

– This year’s World Series audience also delivered significant increases among younger viewers, including males 12-17, a demographic that produced a +105% increase over last year’s performance (3.9 vs. 1.9) and was Fox’s best rating in the demo during the World Series since 2007 (4.0).

– Game-by-game ratings/shares and audience average figures for this year’s World Series are as follows:

Rating/Share Avg. Audience (Million Viewers) Game 1 11.3/20 19.4 M Game 2 10.2/18 17.4 M Game 3 11.0/20 19.4 M Game 4 9.3/18 16.7 M Game 5 13.1/21 23.6 M Game 6 13.3/23 23.4 M Game 7 21.8/37 40.0 M



FOX Deportes

– Wednesday night’s Game 7 on FOX Deportes averaged 565,000 viewers, the most-watched baseball game and most-watched non-soccer sporting event in Spanish language sports network history. That figures also marks a +51% increase over World Series Game 7 in 2014 (vs. 373,000 viewers).

FOX Sports GO

– On the digital front, FOX Sports GO added an average minute audience of 343,865 viewers for last night’s telecast, according to Adobe Analytics, a new record average minute audience for an authenticated event.