Not counting the Winter Classic, it has been three years since the NHL regular season attracted as big an audience as on Saturday night.
Flyers-Penguins, part of the NHL Stadium Series, delivered a 1.1 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on NBC Saturday night — up a tick in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year’s primetime outdoor game between the Red Wings and Avalanche (1.0, 1.7M). Compared to NBC’s primetime game two years ago, an indoor matchup between the Rangers and Flyers, ratings increased 25% (from 0.8) and viewership 36% (from 1.4M).
Pittsburgh’s win ranks as the most-watched NHL regular season game outside of the Winter Classic since Penguins-Blackhawks in another primetime outdoor game three years ago (1.6, 2.8M).
Despite the three-year high, Saturday’s game delivered the fourth-lowest rating and viewership yet for an outdoor game on NBC (15 telecasts dating back to 2008). Five of the bottom six have come in the past two seasons alone.
It also scored the fourth-smallest audience for any primetime NHL game on NBC since the network resumed airing games in 2006 and tied the third-lowest rating.
On Sunday, Bruins-Stars earned a 0.6 (-14%) and 848,000 (-18%) on NBC and Blues-Blackhawks had a 0.35 (-17%) and 594,000 (-14%) on NBCSN. Keep in mind the comparable weekend of last season featured Hockey Day in America.
| NHL OUTDOOR GAME RATINGS, VIEWERSHIP, ON NBC Ranked by viewership |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| # | Game/Event | Rtg. | Vwrs. |
| 1 | Capitals-Penguins 2011 Winter Classic |
2.3
|
4.50M
|
| 2 | Maple Leafs-Red Wings 2014 Winter Classic |
2.5 | 4.40M |
| 3 | Red Wings-Blackhawks 2009 Winter Classic |
2.5
|
4.40M
|
| 4 | Rangers-Flyers 2012 Winter Classic |
2.1 | 3.73M |
| 5 | Flyers-Bruins 2010 Winter Classic |
2.1
|
3.68M
|
| 6 | Penguins-Sabres 2008 Winter Classic |
2.2
|
3.75M
|
| 7 | Blackhawks-Capitals 2015 Winter Classic |
1.9 | 3.47M |
| 8 | Canadiens-Bruins 2016 Winter Classic |
1.6 | 2.78M |
| 9 | Penguins-Blackhawks 2014 Stadium Series |
1.6 | 2.76M |
| 10 | Blackhawks-Blues 2017 Winter Classic |
1.5 | 2.56M |
| 11 | Rangers-Devils 2014 Stadium Series |
1.3 | 2.08M |
| 12 | Flyers-Penguins 2017 Stadium Series |
1.1 | 1.92M |
| 13 | Blackhawks-Wild 2016 Stadium Series |
1.1 | 1.86M |
| 14 | Red Wings-Avalanche 2016 Stadium Series |
1.0 | 1.70M |
| 15 | Red Wings-Maple Leafs 2017 Centennial Classic |
0.6 | 1.08M |
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box 2.27, ShowBuzz Daily 2.28)
