Stanley Cup Final ratings continue to run far behind typical levels.
Wednesday’s Stanley Cup Final Game 3 (Lightning-Stars) averaged a 0.65 rating and 1.15 million viewers on NBCSN (1.21M including streaming), topping only Monday’s Game 2 (0.62, 1.14M) as the lowest rated and least-watched Cup Final telecast in 13 years (2007 Senators-Ducks Game 2: 0.5, 769K).
The Lightning’s win delivered the sixth-smallest Cup Final audience since at least 2000, ahead of only Game 2, Games 1 and 2 in 2007 and Games 1 and 2 in 2006. Tampa Bay has played in four of the bottom ten, tied with Anaheim as the most of any team.
Ratings declined 59% and viewership 61% from last year’s Game 3 (Bruins-Blues: 1.6, 2.93M) and 66% and 67% respectively from 2018 (Golden Knights-Capitals: 1.9, 3.44M). Those games aired on Saturday nights in June. All three games of the series have declined at least 59% in ratings and viewership.
No discussion of the ratings can be had without noting the anomalous and adverse circumstances. This year’s series is taking place four months later than scheduled in an empty arena in Edmonton. Game 1 aired opposite college football and Game 2 the NFL. Game 3 faced no such competition, but it was done no favors by the depressed sampling for the first two games.
Finally, Lightning-Stars is a matchup of Sun Belt teams that would likely have declined in any year. It is worth noting that neither Game 2 nor Game 3 rank among the five most-watched games on cable this postseason.
While Stanley Cup ratings have been unusually low by the standards of past Aprils, Mays and Junes, the games have fueled a record-setting September for NBCSN. The network is averaging 258,000 total-day viewers so far, on pace to rank as its best-ever average in the month. That comes on the heels of its most-watched (non-Olympic) August, in which it averaged 230,000. The obvious caveat is that NBCSN’s usual late summer fare consists of a few NASCAR races and not much else.
Game 3 averaged a series-high 8.6 rating in Tampa-St. Petersburg, the market’s highest NHL rating since the Lightning’s 2018 loss in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against Washington (10.3). Ratings fell 35% from Game 3 of the Lightning’s 2015 Cup Final against the Blackhawks (13.2).
The game averaged a series-low 3.3 in Dallas-Ft. Worth, the lowest for any home market in the Stanley Cup Final since 2012 — when New York turned in a 2.9 for the Devils’ Game 4 win over the Kings.
Least-watched Stanley Cup Final games (2001-present)
[Nielsen estimates from NBC Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 9.24]
