Stanley Cup Final viewership sank double-digits in Game 3, while Game 4 dipped to a three-year low in the overnights.
Saturday’s Bruins-Blues Stanley Cup Final Game 3 earned a 1.6 rating and 2.93 million viewers on NBCSN, down 17% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Capitals-Golden Knights last year (1.9, 3.44M) and flat and down 1% respectively from Penguins-Predators in 2017 (1.6, 2.95M).
Boston’s blowout win delivered the smallest Stanley Cup Final TV audience in three years, since Game 3 of Penguins-Sharks in 2016 (2.79M), and the fourth-smallest audience since 2012 (Devils-Kings Game 4: 2.07M). Including the streaming audience of 119,000 (-13%), it had 3.05 million — down 15% from last year (3.58M), but slightly ahead of 2017 (3.03M).
Game 3 had a 0.9 rating adults 18-49, down 18% from last year (1.1), down a tick from 2017 (1.0), and the lowest for any Stanley Cup Final game since 2012 (Devils-Kings Game 4: 0.8). It drew a 0.8 in adults 18-34, down a tick from last year and even with 2017.
For the postseason, NBC Sports’ cable platforms finished with an average of 1.08 million viewers (including streaming), up 2% from last year (1.05M) and behind 2014 (1.10M) as the second-highest average since 1997.
On Monday night, Game 4 of the series drew a 3.8 overnight rating — down a tick from last year (3.9) and down 7% from 2017 (4.1). The 3.8 is the fourth-highest for a Game 4 on the NBC family of networks, though that comes with a major caveat — only eight of those games have aired on the NBC broadcast network.
The Blues’ win drew a 28.0 rating in St. Louis, up 73% from St. Louis’ blowout Game 3 loss (16.2), and the market’s second-highest rating for an NHL game on the NBC family of networks. Game 1 holds the top spot (29.0).
Boston ranked second with a series-high 26.0, down 10% from Blackhawks-Bruins Game 4 in 2013 (28.9), but up 10% from Canucks-Bruins in 2011, which aired on cable (23.6).
Bruins secondary market Providence ranked third (19.7). Buffalo was the top neutral market at a 9.8 (+10%), with Kansas City rounding out the top five (5.2).
[Numbers from NBC Sports; Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 6.4 a, b]
