The only Canadian team left in the Stanley Cup playoffs continues to draw as they battle deep into the third round.
Wednesday’s 4th Game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars drew an overnight, estimated 1,028,000 on CBC and another 1,183,000 on Sportsnet National for a combined overnight estimate of 2.21 million viewers ages two and up across Canada.
With the regular broadcast season ending the week before, the competition that night wasn’t very robust. CTV, for example, rolled out a night of prime time summer foodie imports as well as the second season launch of Farming For Love, none cracking more than 320,000 in overnights.
Game 3 in the Oilers/Stars Round 3 series was played Monday, May 27. That game drew 1,053,000 on CBC and another 1,251,000 on Sportsnet National for a combined 2.3M in overnight estimates. The biggest competition that night was the documentary special M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television, which had been broadcast earlier this year on Fox. It drew 542,000 in overnights on Global last Monday.
The other Stanley Cup Round 3 matchup continues between two American teams, the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers. Thursdays Game 5 tilt drew an overnight, estimated 745,000 on CBC and another 653,000 on Sportsnet National for a just under 1.4M overnight total in Canada. The competition was a little stiffer that night on other broadcast channels, with the fiery seventh season finale of 9-1-1 drawing an estimated 1.110,000 on Global. On CTV, the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy (715,000) and the series finale of Station 19 (544,000) did well in overnights and will likely add many viewers in Live+7 and +14 (and digital) views as is generally the case with scripted series.
The Rangers/Panthers game 3 match earlier this week on Tuesday nighty drew 540,000 on CBC and another 560,000 on Spotsnet for a 1.1M overnight tally. The sixth game in that very close series, led three games to two by Florida, airs Saturday.
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Way back in numbers last week was Sportsnet rival TSN, which saw little overnight traction from Memorial Cup coverage (under 100k on Monday and Tuesday) and under 40k Tuesday for a WNBA game between LA and Indiana.
Overnight data from Friday’s game between the Oilers and Stars will not be available until Monday, but will be of interest as CBC was stuck showing the Canadian Screen Awards’ final gala that night. Did the Screenies get a boost from viewers hoping to see hockey or did a million or so quickly flip over and double the usual take on Sportsnet? There must be a sports betting app for this.
