Stanley Cup Final viewership continues to easily outpace last year’s all-cable series.
Thursday’s Panthers-Oilers NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 3 averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.4 million viewers on ABC, up 31% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Golden Knights-Panthers on TNT, TBS and truTV last year (1.4, 2.7M), but down 18% in both measures from Avalanche-Lightning in 2022 (2.2, 4.1M).
All three games of the Stanley Cup Final have increased double-digits from last year’s all-cable series. Dating back to the Western Conference Final, six of the past seven Oilers games have posted an increase in ratings and viewership.
The Panthers’ win trails only 2022 as the most-watched Game 3 of a Cup Final since 2018. Going back further, it ranks as the third-most watched Game 3 in the past nine years. (Keep in mind that it was only the third Game 3 since 2008 to air on a broadcast network, and one of those three was in the COVID-altered season of 2021.)
It also ranks as the most-watched Game 3 involving a Canadian team in the past 30 years, surpassing Canucks-Bruins on Versus in 2011 (2.8M).
The Panthers’ win declined 7% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Game 2 on Monday night, which averaged a 1.9 and 3.6 million.
Including Canadian viewership on CBC, SportsNet and TVAS, Game 3 averaged 6.5 million — up 39% from last year. That is the smallest combined audience of the series, after Games 1 and 2 averaged 7.1 and 6.8 million respectively.
(Thurs. Nielsen estimates from ESPN)
