The NHL Winter Classic was a rousing success for NBC.
The second regular season outdoor game in NHL history drew a 2.6/5 overnight rating on NBC yesterday afternoon, the highest regular season NHL overnight in over a decade. The rating is higher than the 2.5 overnight for Wayne Gretzky‘s last game in 1999.
Earlier, The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that the game drew a 2.4 overnight.
The 2.6 overnight for Penguins/Sabres is higher than the rating for every NHL telecast last season, including all five games of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals. The rating is also the third highest for an NHL game on NBC, behind two Stanley Cup Finals games.
The game, which ended in a shoot-out, drew a 38.1 rating in Buffalo and a 17.7 in Pittsburgh. Despite the big rating, the Winter Classic was no match for the Capital One Bowl; the game between Michigan and Florida drew a 9.9 overnight on ABC.
Highest overnights for the NHL on NBC.
4.1: ’06 Stanley Cup Finals Game 7, Oilers/Hurricanes (6/19/06, 8 PM)
2.9: ’06 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5, Hurricanes/Oilers (6/14/06, 8 PM)
2.6: ’08 NHL Winter Classic, Sabres/Penguins (1/1/08, 1 PM)
2.5: ’07 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5, Senators/Ducks (6/6/07, 8 PM)
2.4: ’06 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4, Oilers/Hurricanes (6/12/06, 8 PM)
Link to The Globe and Mail article courtesy anons.
Link to NBC Universal press release courtesy Steve from Kukla’s Korner.
