The Penguins and Blackhawks helped NBCSN to one of its top NHL audiences this season. In other news, the NHRA posted a double-digit drop last weekend and U.S. women’s soccer posted a modest bump during the week.
Pens-Hawks Big Draw For NBCSN
- Penguins-Blackhawks scored 671,000 viewers on the latest edition of NHL Wednesday Night Rivalry on NBCSN, up 25% from Penguins-Bruins last year (536K), up 15% from Penguins-Capitals in 2015 (582K), and the network’s fourth-largest audience of the season. Ratings were flat at a 0.4. The Blackhawks’ win delivered a 3.6 rating in Chicago and a 6.9 in Pittsburgh. In other action, Kings-Wild had a 0.3 and 548,000 (+119%) Monday night, with the Minneapolis-St. Paul market turning in 8.0 rating — the market’s highest ever for the NHL regular season on NBCSN. Figures were not immediately available for Avalanche-Flyers on Tuesday and Rangers-Bruins on Thursday.
NHRA Down on Daytona Day
- Tape delayed NHRA eliminations from Phoenix scored a 0.4 final rating and 546,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 last Sunday evening, flat in ratings but down 15% in viewership from last year, when coverage did not take place the same day as NASCAR’s Daytona 500 (0.4, 645K). Compared to coverage on ESPN2 in 2015, which did take place the same day as Daytona, ratings were flat and viewership fell 7% from 589,000.
Modest Bump For USWNT
- Wednesday’s United States-Germany women’s soccer match, the first match of the SheBelieves Cup, had 310,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 — up 6% from last year’s opener against England (293K). The Americans’ win was also their first international match of any kind this season, topping their 2016 opener against Ireland by 16% (268K).
(Numbers via Programming Insider 3.1, 3.2, ShowBuzz Daily 2.28, 3.2, NBC Sports PR/Twitter 2.28, 3.2)
