Game 5 draws best NHL overnight ever on NBC. (UPDATED)

Posted by | 06/03/2008 at 3:04 pm

The Pittsburgh Penguins were not the only winner last night.

Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals drew a 4.3/8 overnight last night, up 79% from a 2.4 for last year’s clinching Game 5, which was played on a Wednesday. The rating peaked with a 5.8/10 from 11:00-11:30 PM.

NBC averaged 5.8 million viewers, according to preliminary numbers, good for a fourth place finish for the night. Among adults 18-49, NBC drew a 2.5/7 among, tying CBS for the top spot in the demo.

The 4.3 is the highest overnight ever for an NHL telecast on NBC, ahead of a 4.1 for Game 7 of the Hurricanes/Oilers series two years ago. The 4.3 is the highest for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals since 2002, when Red Wings/Hurricanes Game 5 drew a 4.5/8. Additionally, the rating is the best for any NHL game since the very last game before the lockout — Game 7 of the Lightning/Flames series in 2004 drew a 5.4/9.

In prime time (from 8:00-11:00 PM), the game drew a 3.8/6 overnight. The 3.8 prime time overnight did not factor in the three overtimes, which caused the game to air until around 12:50 AM last night in the home markets of Pittsburgh and Detroit.

  • jkrdevil
  • Anonymous

    5.8 million…those are NBA numbers. You can’t compare a sport to Dancing with the Stars or something like that..It’s a totally different audience. Sports is a male audience.

  • Sean O

    That game was fantastic. I bet Game 6 is going to garner some sweet ratings coming into the game with all the momentum of a classic game. The NHL should be very happy Pittsburgh won Game 5…man, what a game.

  • Anonymous

    On top of sports being geared towards a male audience, we’re talking hockey here, not the NBA or the NFL so the fact that numbers were that high is pretty amazing to me.

  • JB

    With the Red Wings outpacing the Pistons in Motorcity viewers last week on VS and now these lofty numbers for a week night game perhaps the NHL will rethink the “play all the teams” regular-season scheduling due in the 2008-09 season. It seems to me that teams not playing until the Finals is even more a draw then teams having had earlier season encounters. Maybe these ratings are better for that reason (and numerous other reasons).

  • Anonymous

    JB, the Wings didn’t outdraw the Pistons when the Wings games were on Versus. The only time the Wings outdrew the Pistons was in game 3 of the SCF when the Wings game was aired on broadcast tv (NBC) and the Pistons game was aired on cable (ESPN).

  • John

    Not playing all the teams on TV is a terrible idea. Thats what espn and it brought down the ratings. No one wants to see the red wings or the pens beat up on columbus, and the rangers play mediocre hockey agsint the bruins. having parity both on the ice and on television and showcasing each team will help the nhl grow.