Olympic hockey ratings have been a disappointment on the men’s side, but Wednesday’s thriller women’s final picked up the slack.
Wednesday’s United States-Canada Olympic women’s hockey final earned 2.89 million viewers on NBCSN, and 3.7 million across all platforms — including streaming and an overtime simulcast on NBC.
The United States’ shootout win declined from 2014, when coverage aired in the afternoon on NBC (4.9M), but increased from 2010, when coverage aired in primetime on MSNBC (2.5M). Those games featured the same matchup.
Not counting the Stanley Cup Final, the combined audience exceeds all-but-one NHL playoff game last year — Game 5 of the Penguins-Capitals second round series (4.3M). The NBCSN-only audience exceeds all-but-five of the network’s total NHL telecasts. Those five include four Game 7s and Game 4 of the 2013 Penguins-Bruins Eastern Conference final (2.90M).
In addition to those superlatives, the game was NBCSN’s most-watched show ever in the 11 PM-2:15 AM ET timeslot. Keep in mind that outside of Formula 1 races, the network has aired few sporting events at or after 11 PM.
For the night, the gold medal game was cable’s top program in adults 18-49 (1.0), adults 18-34 (0.8) and adults 25-54 (1.05).
Wednesday’s numbers were a bright spot amidst otherwise subpar Olympic hockey ratings. With NHL players missing from the men’s competition, those games were down 20-30% in the early days of competition.
[Thurs. numbers from NBC Sports PR 2.22, ShowBuzz Daily 2.22]
