TV Ratings: Cubs Win World Series in Front of Massive Audience

After 108 years, the Curse of the Billy Goat is no more. And at least 39.2 million people watched it break Wednesday night. The last game of 2016’s series also pulled in a 12.1 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. A full 33% of the TVs in use last night were tuned to the game on Fox.

To borrow a phrase from a beloved “SNL” character, the final game of the Chicago Cubs-Cleveland Indians World Series had everything: A fiery young team blowing a lead close to the end of the game. A 17-minute rain delay. 176 years’ worth of World Series Championship drought. A curse over a goat.

No longer.

This should be the biggest World Series Game 7 audience in 25 years. In these preliminary ratings from Nielsen, it’s beating out the final game of 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks clinched the title over the New York Yankees (39.08 million) and the last game of 1997’s Florida Marlins-Cleveland Series. The biggest Game 7 of the last 25 years was 1991, which drew 50.34 million viewers to CBS to watch the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves.

The numbers for Wednesday’s game are from Nielsen’s early ratings, which will adjust up, as they currently only account for viewing from 8-11 p.m. — the game didn’t end until around 12:50 a.m. on the East Coast, thanks to a slight rain delay and an extra inning. The 17 minutes of rain delay won’t appear in those final ratings, per Nielsen policy.

There were other things airing opposite the World Series, though NBC went entirely into repeats and CBS only had a new “Survivor.” Here’s how everything else fared:

ABC had the misfortune of airing the CMA Awards, one of its bigger, immovable, non-Oscars or Emmy awards shows. And yet it held up surprisingly well against the Cubs-Indians ratings vortex, possibly thanks to a Beyoncé performance with the Dixie Chicks. The CMA Awards drew a 2.9 in the demo and 12.75 million viewers.

“Survivor” pulled in a 1.5 in the demo and 6.82 million.

On The CW, a new “Arrow” garnered 1.63 million viewers and a 0.6 in the demo, off just a tick from last week. “Frequency” brought in a 0.3 and 934,000 viewers. As a reminder, particularly in this case, many of the originals here will see ratings lifts of 50% or more once viewership within three or seven days is tallied. Most of that lift won’t translate to the guarantees networks make advertisers, though.