World Series a boon for Fox; 40.5 million watching finale

NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs’ thrilling World Series victory dominated television last week, with the 40.5 million people who watched the Game 7 contest with the Cleveland Indians representing the most-watched Fall Classic game since 1991.

The World Series matchup proved to be a boon for Fox, the network that carried the games, because it went the distance.

Fox averaged 12.3 million viewers in prime time. CBS finished second with an average of 8.7 million, NBC had 6.9 million, ABC had 6.1 million, Telemundo had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.6 million, the CW had 1.4 million and ION Television had 1.1 million.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 3.1 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.31 million, Hallmark had 1.91 million, MSNBC had 1.64 million and USA had 1.36 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.5 million.

For the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: World Series Game 7: Chicago at Cleveland, Fox, 40.05 million; World Series Game 6: Chicago at Cleveland, Fox, 23.4 million; NFL Football: Denver at Oakland, NBC, 18.33 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 14.18 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 14.05 million; “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 13.96 million; “CMA Awards,” ABC, 12.5 million; “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 11.72 million; NFL Football: Minnesota at Chicago, ESPN, 10.48 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 10.45 million.