NBCSN earned its largest hockey audience ever for Saturday’s Olympic shootout between the United States and Russia.
The USA/Russia Olympic men’s hockey game drew 4.1 million viewers on NBCSN Saturday morning, the largest audience ever for hockey on the network (previously VERSUS and OLN). The previous high was 4.0 million for Game 3 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
Viewership for USA/Russia peaked at 6.4 million from 10-10:30 AM ET, marking the most-viewed half-hour in the history of NBCSN.
Saturday’s numbers still fell well short of a record for hockey on cable. During the 2010 Olympics, a USA/Canada hockey game earned 8.2 million viewers on MSNBC — albeit in a much better timeslot (Sunday night, as opposed to Saturday morning).
With USA/Russia providing a boost, NBCSN had its largest daytime audience in history on Saturday (2.9M).
(Sat. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
