Stanley Cup playoff viewership continues to trend ahead of last year.
The first week of the Stanley Cup Playoffs averaged 633,000 viewers across NBC Sports’ TV and digital platforms, up 4% from the comparable period of last year’s playoffs (610K). Games on cable have averaged 545,000 (including streaming), the highest at this point since 2017 (548K).
Viewership has increased despite a number of weekday afternoon start times. Excluding those games raises the cable average by 5% to 573,000.
Though the overall trend is positive, NBC hit lows for its primetime games last weekend. Golden Knights-Blackhawks Game 3 averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.25 million viewers on Saturday night, marking the least-watched primetime Stanley Cup game ever on broadcast television. Flyers-Canadiens Game 3 drew a 0.9 and 1.37 million the following night, ranking second.
Prior to this year, no primetime playoff game on broadcast TV had averaged fewer than 1.56 million (Hurricanes-Capitals Game 5 last year). NBC’s first primetime game last postseason — Maple Leafs-Bruins Game 2 — averaged 1.71 million.
Keep in mind that both of NBC’s primetime windows overlapped with competing playoff games on NBCSN — Lightning-Blue Jackets Game 3 on Saturday (0.34, 579K) and Golden Knights-Blackhawks Game 4 on Sunday (0.42, 717K).
In other action, NBC averaged a 0.8 (+5%) and 1.21 million (+2%) for Bruins-Hurricanes Game 3 Saturday afternoon. Game 4 of the series averaged 700,000 viewers on NBCSN Monday night (+11%).
Earlier Monday, Colorado’s 7-1 blowout of Arizona averaged 488,000. The 5:30 PM ET start outdrew all-but-one late night window in this year’s playoffs (Blackhawks-Golden Knights Game 1: 489K).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 8.18 a, b; NBC Sports PR]
