Prior to a record-setting Game 7, the Blackhawks/Blues series lifted NBC to a first round high.
Game 6 of the Blues/Blackhawks Stanley Cup playoff series drew a 1.6 final rating and 2.9 million viewers on NBC Saturday night, up 14% in ratings and 17% in viewership from Predators/Blackhawks last year (1.4, 2.4M) and the most-watched opening round game on the network in four years — since Bruins/Capitals Game 6 in 2012 (3.5M).
Excluding the Stanley Cup Final, the Blackhawks’ win earned NBC’s second-largest primetime NHL audience since 2013 — trailing only Game 7 of last year’s Blackhawks/Ducks Western Conference final (2.6, 4.6M).
Ratings and viewership were not immediately available for the network’s three other games over the weekend.
Shifting to cable, Predators/Ducks Game 5 had 413,000 on NBCSN Saturday evening — down 42% from Red Wings/Lightning last year (714K) and down 40% from Blue Jackets/Penguins in 2014 (685K). Game 6 of the series had 228,000 on CNBC Monday, down 42% from Lightning/Red Wings last year (391K). Both games overlapped with the Blues/Blackhawks series.
NBCSN also posted declines for Sunday’s Panthers/Islanders Game 6 (649K, -33%) and Friday’s Flyers/Capitals Game 5 (571K, -9%) and Wild/Stars Game 5 (389K, -26%).
Rounding out the recent action, CNBC scored 294,000 for Islanders/Panthers (+29%) and 286,000 for abbreviated coverage of Sharks/Kings.
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box, Programming Insider, ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2], [3], [4])
