The much-hyped Canada/United States hockey game delivered strong numbers for NBCSN Friday.
NBCSN earned a 2.7 U.S. rating and 3.9 million viewers for the Canada/USA Olympic men’s hockey semifinal Friday afternoon, the highest rated and fourth-most viewed hockey game ever on the network. Last Saturday’s USA/Russia men’s hockey game drew more viewers (4.1M), but a lower rating (2.6).
The four most-viewed hockey games in NBCSN history have aired in the past year — Canada/USA, USA/Russia, and Games 2 and 3 of last year’s Blackhawks/Bruins Stanley Cup Final. Boosted by the Canada/USA game, NBCSN averaged 1.7 million viewers from 6 AM-3 PM Friday, the network’s best weekday performance ever in that timeslot.
Though strong for NBCSN, Friday’s game came nowhere close to the Canada/USA match-ups in 2010. The teams’ group play game earned 8.2 million viewers on MSNBC, and their overtime battle in the gold medal game drew 27.6 million on NBC.
The game also drew fewer viewers than the Canada/USA women’s hockey final the previous day (4.9M). The women’s game, of course, aired on regular NBC.
Most-Viewed Hockey Games Ever on NBCSN
(Fri. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
