The presence of five Canadian teams, none of which count toward U.S. television ratings, has not had a negative impact on Stanley Cup playoff ratings.
Monday’s Capitals-Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 3 earned a 0.4 final rating and 615,000 viewers on NBCSN, flat in ratings and up a fraction of a percent in viewership from Capitals-Flyers last year (0.4, 613K) but down a tick and 14% respectively from Rangers-Penguins in 2015 (0.5, 719K).
The Maple Leafs’ overtime win delivered the fourth-largest audience of the postseason on cable (22 telecasts through Tuesday), with their series against the Capitals making up three of the top four.
Seven of the nine most-watched games on cable this postseason have involved a Canadian team, three each from the Capitals-Maple Leafs and Canadiens-Rangers series and one Sharks-Oilers game. That list includes Tuesday’s Canadiens-Rangers Game 4, which had 576,000 viewers on NBCSN — up 5% from Lightning-Red Wings last year (546K) and up 22% from Lightning-Red Wings Game 3 in 2015 (472K).
Ten of the 15 games* involving a Canadian team have posted an increase over last year, no small feat given there were no Canadian teams in last year’s playoffs. Along with the games mentioned above, that list includes Monday’s Senators-Bruins Game 3 on CNBC (289K, +17%) and Ducks-Flames Game 3 on NBCSN (375K, +1%). Tuesday’s Oilers-Sharks Game 4 was a rare exception (479K, -30%).
As for the all-U.S. series, Game 4 of Penguins-Blue Jackets had 415,000 on CNBC Tuesday — down 48% from Penguins-Rangers last year (681K) and down 23% from Capitals-Islanders in 2015 (542K), both of which aired on USA. Blackhawks-Predators Game 3 had 505,000 on CNBC the previous night, with no comparable window last year.
* That does not include Sharks-Oilers Game 1, for which no year-over-year comparison was available, or Bruins-Senators Game 1 — which did not air on a Nielsen rated network.
