A shift from broadcast to cable unsurprisingly meant lower numbers for the start of the NHL conference finals.
Game 1 of the Sharks/Blues NHL Western Conference final had a 1.3 overnight rating on NBCSN Sunday night, down 24% from Blackhawks/Ducks last year (1.7) and down 32% from Kings/Blackhawks in 2014 (1.9), both of which aired in the afternoon on the NBC broadcast network.
The 1.3 is the second-highest for a Conference Final opener on NBCSN (previously VERSUS and OLN), behind only Kings/Blackhawks Game 1 in 2013 (1.4).
On Friday, NBCSN scored 1.7 million viewers for Game 1 of the Lightning/Penguins Eastern Conference final — down 8% from Lightning/Rangers last year (1.9M) but up 21% from Rangers/Canadiens in 2014 (1.4M), which aired on NBC. Tampa Bay’s win ranks as the most-watched Conference Final opener ever on NBCSN, not including Sunday’s Sharks/Blues game (for which final numbers were not immediately available).
Locally, Sharks/Blues Game 1 had a 17.4 rating in St. Louis and a 4.5 in the Bay Area, the former setting a record on the NBC family of networks. Lightning/Penguins had a 17.9 in Pittsburgh and a 7.4 in Tampa-St. Petersburg.
Entering the conference finals, the NBC family of networks were averaging 905,000 viewers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs — up 4% from last year (873K). The second round of the playoffs averaged 1.3 million, up 4% from last year’s 1.2 million.
(Numbers via NBC Sports Group Press Box, NBC Sports PR/Twitter)
