In some leagues, blowouts actually do hurt the ratings.
Thursday’s Predators-Penguins Stanley Cup Final Game 5 earned a 3.1 overnight rating on NBC, down 14% from Sharks-Penguins last year (3.6) and down 18% from Blackhawks-Lightning on a Saturday night in 2015 (3.8).
The Penguins’ 6-0 win delivered the lowest Game 5 overnight since Kings-Devils in 2012 (2.6) and the third-lowest in the past decade. Only Kings-Devils and Penguins-Red Wings in 2009 (2.5) posted lower marks over that span, and both of those games aired on Saturday nights.
Game 5 was the first of the series to decline in the metered markets.
Pittsburgh delivered a 32.3 rating for Thursday’s game, down 12% from last year’s Game 5, when the Penguins had a chance to win the Stanley Cup (36.9). Nashville turned in a 20.2, the market’s lowest of the series for a game on NBC.
