Though down from the first two games on NBC, Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final did well on NBCSN.
Game 3 of the Lightning/Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final drew a 2.9 overnight rating on NBCSN Monday night, up 16% from Kings/Rangers last year (2.5) but down 7% from Blackhawks/Bruins in 2013 (3.1).
The 2.9 is tied as the third-highest for any NHL game on NBCSN (previously VERSUS and OLN), trailing only the aforementioned Blackhawks/Bruins Game 3 in 2013 and Game 7 of last year’s Kings/Blackhawks Western Conference final (3.2). Though big for NBCSN, the overnight is easily the lowest of the series. Games 1 and 2 earned overnights of 4.2 and 4.8, respectively, on NBC.
Head-to-head, the game earned a higher overnight than the United States/Australia FIFA Women’s World Cup match on Fox Sports 1 (2.1).
Chicago was the top market for Monday’s game with a 24.0 rating, up 43% from 2013 (16.8), up 37% from Blackhawks/Flyers Game 3 in 2010 (17.5), and the market’s highest ever for the NHL on NBCSN. The game had a 13.2 in In Tampa-St. Petersburg, a series-low but also a record for NBCSN in the market.
Buffalo (4.3), Boston (4.2) and Providence (3.8) rounded out the top five.
(Mon. numbers from twitter.com/nbcsportspr [1], [2], [3]; additional info from Sports Business Daily)
