Far from hurting the ratings, the Nashville Predators’ surprise run is delivering some of the best Stanley Cup Final results in years.
Monday’s Penguins-Predators Stanley Cup Final Game 4 had a 3.2 final rating and 5.7 million viewers on NBC, up 28% in ratings and 34% in viewership from Penguins-Sharks last year (2.5, 4.2M) and up 45% and 44% respectively from Lightning-Blackhawks in 2015, which aired on NBCSN (2.2, 3.9M).
Including the 83,000 viewers who streamed coverage on NBC Sports digital platforms (+44%), the Predators’ win delivered the second-largest Game 4 audience since the Stanley Cup Final returned to broadcast television in 1995. Blackhawks-Bruins in 2013 holds the top spot (6.5M).
Excluding series-clinchers, it was also the ninth-most watched Cup Final game in the past 15 years.
All four games of the Penguins-Predators series have posted an increase in ratings and viewership, with Game 4 topping all six games of last year’s Penguins-Sharks series. The near-record for Game 4 came one week after a historically strong Game 1, the third-most watched opener since 1999.
NBC’s broadcast, which peaked with 6.3 million viewers from 10:45-11 PM ET, ranked second for the night on television behind ABC’s The Bachelorette (6.0M). It took first place in adults 18-49 (2.0) and adults 18-34 (1.8), with those demos up a third and 50% respectively from last year (1.5; 1.2).
[Mon. numbers from NBC Sports PR 6.6; ShowBuzz Daily 6.6)
