Yes, we still do numbers. The CBC is going to miss the Stanley Cup finals and so, incredibly, will NBC. The Peacock network drew 7.51 million for Friday’s seventh and deciding game, with over 9 million tuning into see Sidney Crosby and the Pens hoist the cup. Here are the dying seconds:
That is the biggest U.S. audience for a Stanley Cup final since Mark Messier and the Rangers defeated Vancouver in 1994. “Personally, I have no recollection of a hockey game ever rating this high,” write Mediaweek Programming Insider Marc Berman.
CBC drew 2,596,000 for Game Six and spiked close to 5 million viewers in the dying seconds of Friday’s Game Seven. That’s huge, but before the seventh game, numbers were down from last season, despite an exciting, seven game series. All four rounds of the NHL playoffs were down, with a lack of Canadian teams in most of the mix no doubt accounting for the CBC drop off. Or maybe Canadians are starting to tire of our game just as America is getting into it?
Other recent Canadian ratings numbers (according to BBM Canada overnight estimates): So You Think You Can Dance Canada waltzed off with 1,745,000 viewers June 11 for CTV (“commercial” tally). The Listener was still worth a listen with 983,000 viewers in Week Three, although it is falling on deaf ears in the States. Last Thursday’s airing drew just 4.39 million on NBC, last in its timeslot in households and demo.
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As one of the analog viewers (but not the too distant VHF US channels), I was praying for overtime. What would NBC have done in that case last Friday night? And then the NBA’s Championship wrapup only two nights later?