The Penguins-Capitals rivalry delivered the largest cable audience of the NHL season. Also: declines for the NCAA women’s volleyball final, a look at recent college basketball numbers, and a four-year high for the Brooklyn Nets.
Pens-Caps Hits High on NBCSN
Penguins-Capitals scored 697,000 viewers on NBCSN’s NHL Wednesday Night Hockey last night, up 73% in viewership from last year (Red Wings-Flyers: 402K), up 23% from 2016 (Capitals-Flyers: 565K), and the most-watched game of the season on cable. Including streaming viewership, the game had 718,000. The game had a 0.40 rating.
The previous cable high was 642,000 set by another Penguins-Capitals matchup in November. The Capitals have played in the four most-watched games and the Penguins have played in three of the top five. The top game of the season overall was Rangers-Flyers on Black Friday, which had 1.15 million on NBC.
In other action, Tuesday’s Predators-Blackhawks game had 140,000. Last year’s comparable numbers were not available.
NCAA Volleyball Final Dips
Saturday’s Stanford-Nebraska NCAA women’s volleyball national championship had a 0.51 rating and 938,000 viewers on ESPN2, down a tick in ratings and 7% in viewership from last year (Nebraska-Florida: 0.52, 1.01M), but up 54% and 63% respectively from 2016 (Stanford-Texas: 0.33, 576K).
Last Thursday’s semifinals were a mixed bag. ESPN drew a 0.35 (+16%) and 619,000 (+26%) for Nebraska-Illinois, and a 0.35 (-18%) and 595,000 (-24%) for Stanford-BYU.
Gonzaga-UNC Tops Recent College Hoops
Last Saturday’s Gonzaga-North Carolina men’s college basketball game scored a 0.8 rating and 1.47 million viewers on ESPN2, marking last week’s most-watched college hoops game on any network, and the most-watched game of the season on ESPN2. There was no comparable window last year.
Earlier in the day, ESPN drew a 0.95 rating and 1.39 million for Villanova-Kansas, the highest rated game of last week. Again, there was no comparable window last year.
Over on CBS, Indiana-Butler had a 0.9 (+50%) and 1.37 million (+65%) and Notre Dame-Purdue a 0.7 (-13%) and 951,000 (-18%).
Nets Hit High For Win Over Lakers
Wednesday’s Lakers-Nets NBA regular season game pulled a 1.39 rating on YES Network in New York, the highest for a Nets telecast on the network in more than four years (2014 Cavaliers-Nets: 1.59). The previous high was a 1.30 for a Celtics-Nets game last year.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 12.18, 12.20; NBC Sports PR/Twitter 12.20; YES Network; Programming Insider 12.20]
