Fueled by a Kentucky Derby lead-in, the Penguins and Capitals delivered near-record numbers for NBC.
Game 5 of the Penguins/Capitals Stanley Cup playoff series scored a 2.4 final rating and 4.2 million viewers on NBC Saturday night, marking the second-largest audience on record for a playoff game outside of the Stanley Cup Final. Game 7 of last year’s Blackhawks/Ducks Western Conference final holds the top spot (4.6M).
The 2.4 rating also ranks as the second-highest for a non-final game since NBC began airing the NHL in 2006, again trailing last year’s Blackhawks/Ducks Game 7 (2.6).
Keep in mind those milestones do not include the regular season. The Winter Classic generated a higher rating in 2009 and 2014 (2.5 both years) and a larger audience in those two years (4.4M both years) and 2011 (4.5M).
The strong performance was the result of a lead-in from the Kentucky Derby, which averaged 15.5 million viewers leading into the race. Head-to-head, the Capitals’ final win of the season trailed the Warriors/Blazers NBA playoff game on ABC (5.8M) but easily topped NASCAR Sprint Cup racing on Fox Sports 1 (3.1M). The same was the case in adults 18-49, with the NHL’s 1.2 behind the NBA (2.0) but ahead of NASCAR (0.7).
In other action, Monday’s Stars/Blues Game 6 had 1.1 million viewers on NBCSN while Sharks/Predators Game 6 scored 500,000 on CNBC. There were no comparable windows last year. Saturday’s Predators/Sharks Game 5 had 589,000 on NBCSN; again, there was no comparable window last year. Finally, Lightning/Islanders Game 4 drew 879,000 on NBCSN Friday night — down 36% from Capitals/Rangers Game 5 last year (1.4M) and down 29% from Rangers/Penguins Game 5 in 2014 (1.2M).
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box; ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2], [3])
