The Stanley Cup Final ended on a semi-decent note in the ratings, at least by the lower standards of the past year.
Wednesday’s Canadiens-Lightning NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 5 averaged a 1.9 rating and 3.51 million viewers on NBC (3.61M including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen), up 31% in ratings and 29% in viewership from Stars-Lightning on a college football Saturday last September (1.5, 2.71M), but down 39% and 36% respectively from Blues-Bruins in June 2019 (3.1, 5.45M).
Compared to last year’s clinching Lightning-Stars Game 6, which faced Monday Night Football, ratings rose 16% (from 1.7) and viewership 22% (2.88M).
Tampa Bay’s win, which clinched back-to-back titles, ranks as the most-watched NHL game since the league returned from hiatus nearly a year ago — surpassing the previous high of 2.96 million for an Islanders-Flyers game following the Kentucky Derby last Labor Day weekend.
As one would expect, Game 5 tops only last year’s Game 6 as the least-watched Cup clincher since 2007 (Ducks-Senators Game 5: 2.90M).
The complete five-game Stanley Cup Final averaged 2.43 million viewers (2.52M including additional streaming data). The latter figure is up 17% from last year’s six-game series (2.15M) but down 54% from the seven-game series in 2019 (5.47M). Compared to previous Cup finals to involve a Canadian team, this year’s series declined 45% from 2011 (4.57M) — but that was a seven-game series involving original six Boston.
Versus previous Cup finals to pit a Canadian team against a Sun Belt opponent, viewership jumped 43% from the five-game Senators-Ducks in ’07 (1.76M) and 11% from the seven-game Oilers-Hurricanes in 2006 (2.28M), but declined 23% from the seven-game Lightning-Flames in 2004 (3.28M).
The full Stanley Cup playoffs averaged 982,000 viewers on the networks of NBC (1.02M including additional streaming data). On a TV-only basis, viewership increased just 3% from last year in the “bubble” (953K) and declined 36% from 2019 (1.53M). Including the additional streaming data — several games were simulcast on Peacock this year — viewership increased 7% from the “bubble.” Only 12 postseason games aired on NBC this year, three fewer than last year.
Wednesday marked the final NHL game for the foreseeable future on the NBC national networks. NBC acquired NHL rights in 2004 and NBCSN precursor OLN picked up the league the following year. In sixteen seasons, NBC’s most-watched games were Blues-Bruins Game 7 two years ago, Bruins-Canucks Game 7 in 2011 (8.54), Blackhawks-Flyers Game 6 in 2010 (8.28M), Blackhawks-Bruins Game 6 in 2013 (8.16M) and Lightning-Blackhawks Game 6 in 2015 (8.01M). The most-watched game that did not involve the Bruins or Blackhawks was Penguins-Red Wings Game 7 in 2009 (7.99M).
Game 5 averaged a 15.6 rating in Tampa-St. Petersburg, up 1% from last year’s clincher (15.4) and the market’s second-highest NHL rating ever on NBC, behind Game 1 of Blackhawks-Lightning in 2015 (17.9). The 15.6 is still well below the Lightning’s 2004 Cup Clincher on ABC (28.1). Game 4 drew a 13.7 and Game 3 an 11.4, up 34 and 33 percent respectively from last year’s corresponding games (10.2, 8.6).
[Nielsen estimates from NBC]
