The NHL’s final four has done better than one would expect given the teams involved.
Saturday’s Predators-Ducks NHL Western Conference final Game 5 earned a 1.4 final rating and 2.4 million viewers on NBC, flat in ratings and up 4% in viewership from Sharks-Blues Game 4 last year (1.4, 2.3M) but down 22% and 16% respectively from Ducks-Blackhawks Game 4 in 2015 (1.8, 2.8M), which also aired on NBC in primetime.
Compared to last year’s Game 5, which aired on NBCSN, ratings rose 75% and viewership 79% from a 0.8 and 1.3 million.
On Monday, Game 6 of the series delivered 1.5 million viewers on NBCSN — up 5% from Blues-Sharks last year (1.4M) though down 37% from Ducks-Blackhawks in ’15 (2.4M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Predators’ series-clinching win earned a 16.5 rating in Nashville, the market’s best-ever for the NHL on the NBC family of networks. The previous high was a 13.3 for Game 5.
Including streaming, Game 5 had 2.4 million viewers and Game 6 had 1.6 million.
In the Eastern Conference, Sunday’s Senators-Penguins Game 5 had a 1.2 and 2.0 million on NBC — up a tick in ratings and 6% in viewership from Lightning-Penguins last year (1.1, 1.9M) and up a tick and 28% respectively from Lightning-Rangers in 2015 (1.0, 1.6M), both of which aired on NBCSN in primetime.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs is now averaging 1.1 million viewers across NBC Sports’ TV and digital platforms, up 6% from last year (1.0M), despite having at least one Canadian team in each round of the postseason (no Canadian teams made the playoffs last year).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 5.23a, 5.23b, NBC Sports PR/Twitter 5.23a, 5.23b)
