Stanley Cup playoff viewership is at a record pace entering the conference finals.
The first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs averaged 1.16 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS and truTV, up 9% from last year and the highest average on record at this point of the postseason. The second round in particular averaged 1.55 million (+12%), the highest ever on cable (no games aired on broadcast television).
The second round ended Monday night with Game 7 of the all-Canadian Oilers-Canucks series delivering 1.66 million viewers on ESPN — the largest audience on record for an all-Canadian NHL game in the United States.
As one would expect for an all-Canadian matchup, it was still down 40% from Kraken-Stars Game 7 last year (2.75M) and the least-watched second round Game 7 since the 2020 “bubble.” Excluding that anomalous year, it was the least-watched since Jets-Predators on NBCSN in 2018 (1.56M).
For the postseason, Game 7 ranks 13th in viewership — but second among Western Conference games, behind only Golden Knights-Stars Game 7 in the first round (1.99M).
Oilers-Canucks did outperform its WNBA lead-in — featuring Caitlin Clark — though the margin was close. The WNBA game averaged 1.56 million. During the 9-9:14 PM ET quarter-hour, during which the WNBA bled into the NHL’s timeslot, the basketball game averaged nearly three million viewers (2.97M).
Game 6 on Saturday night averaged a 0.53 rating and 1.01 million viewers on ESPN, down 46% in ratings and 50% in viewership from Stars-Kraken last year (1.0, 2.04M).
