NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs’ curse-breaking victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 reached 40 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game since 1991.

The Nielsen company said the World Series as a whole averaged 23.4 million viewers. That was the most popular World Series since another curse-breaking year, when the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 to end a long drought.

The game peaked at just under 50 million viewers between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. ET.