Game Five Does Little To Improve NBC's Stanley Cup Average

NBC Earns 1.8/3 Final Nielsen Rating For Stanley Cup Finals Game Five

NBC earned a 1.8/3 final Nielsen rating for Ducks-Senators Stanley Cup Finals Game Five on Wednesday night, down 28.0% from a 2.5/4 for last year’s Hurricanes-Oilers Game Five. The three finals games on NBC averaged a 1.6/3, down 20% from last year’s average of a 2.0/4 (THE DAILY).

L.A. MARKET: Game Five earned a 6.0/12 and 496,000 viewers in L.A., compared to a 3.0/5 and 218,000 viewers for Dodgers-Padres on KCAL-Ind. By the time “most commuters got home,” Ducks-Senators was in the third period, when the rating peaked at a 10.4 (L.A. TIMES, 6/8).

CANADA: In Toronto, William Houston reports the CBC averaged 2,502,000 viewers over the five Stanley Cup games, down 18% from 3,042,000 viewers for Oilers-Hurricanes in ’06 and down 33% from 3,735,000 viewers for Flames-Lightning in ’04.  Both of those series went seven games.  But with the help of a Canadian team, this year’s average still ranks as the third largest in the last ten years and sixth largest since ’89, when Nielsen started measuring audiences with People Meters.  French language RDS averaged 624,000 viewers over the five games, up 12% from last year.  The CBC drew 2,163,000 viewers for Game Five, “the smallest CBC audience of the final.” D’Rays-Blue Jays, which drew 278,000 viewers on TSN, and the Toronto FC-Red Bulls telecast and Canada-Costa Rica Gold Cup match on Rogers Sportsnet “clearly cut into the CBC’s viewership" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 6/8).

For bloggers' take on the popularity of the NHL, see Blog Hound. 
For bloggers' take on the popularity of the NHL, see Blog Hound later in this section.