With Penguins-Flyers picking up the slack for weaker performing series, Stanley Cup ratings continued to trend up over the weekend.
Sunday’s Penguins-Flyers Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 6 delivered a 1.4 rating and 2.34 million viewers on NBC, up 27% in ratings and 36% in viewership from last year (Senators-Bruins: 1.1, 1.7M) and up 40% and 54% respectively from 2016 (Wild-Stars: 1.0, 1.5M).
The Penguins’ win, which peaked with 3.1 million viewers from 5:30-5:45 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched game of the playoffs. Including streaming viewership, its audience of 2.38 million was the largest for an afternoon first round game since 2014.
Game 6 was a bright spot in a relatively slow stretch for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Of the last 12 games that can be compared to last year, it was just the second to post an increase. The other was Game 5 of the same series on Friday night.
NBC’s Saturday games were not as impressive. In primetime, Maple Leafs-Bruins Game 5 earned a 1.1 and 1.9 million — down 15% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (Canadiens-Rangers: 1.3, 2.1M) and down 31% and 33% respectively from 2016 (Blackhawks-Blues: 1.6, 2.8M).
Afternoon regional action — Devils-Lightning or Blue Jackets-Capitals — drew a 0.9 (-18%) and 1.5 million (-15%).
NBC averaged a 1.1 rating for its six first round playoff games, up a tick from last year. Across TV and streaming, the network averaged 1.91 million viewers (+15%), the network’s highest first round average since 2015 (1.92M).
Shifting to cable, Predators-Avalanche Game 6 had a 0.47 (-29%) and 816,000 (-28%) on NBCSN Sunday night. On Monday, Bruins-Maple Leafs Game 6 had 838,000 viewers on NBCSN and Capitals-Blue Jackets 479,000 on CNBC. There were no comparable games last year.
Not including the Monday games, NBCSN is averaging 668,000 viewers for first round coverage (+9%), its highest average at this point of the postseason since 2012 (691K). Across all NBC platforms, the first round has averaged 751,000 viewers — up 1% from last year (743K), up 6% from 2016 (710K) and the highest average in four years (2014: 786K).
Both figures include streaming viewership.
[Numbers from NBC Sports 4.24, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 4.24 a, b]
