NHL Playoff Viewership Up 35.5% On Versus Through Two Rounds

Versus averaged 457,955 viewers per game for 41 broadcasts through the first two rounds of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, an increase of 35.5% from 337,888 viewers for 40 broadcasts during the first two rounds in '07. The net also averaged a 0.5 coverage area rating for the first two rounds, up from a 0.4 last year. The net's coverage of 15 second-round games averaged 615,744 viewers, up 55.2% from 396,813 viewers for 17 telecasts last season. Penguins-Rangers Game Four on May 1 averaged a 1.1 coverage area rating and 1.2 million viewers, marking the net's highest-rated and most-viewed NHL telecast. The following lists Versus' most-viewed games for the current Stanley Cup playoffs (THE DAILY).

CANADA RATINGS: French-language network RDS' telecast of Flyers-Canadiens Game Five last Saturday "set a network audience record" of 2.164 million viewers, marking the second time during the postseason the net drew more than 2 million viewers. RDS' average for the Flyers-Canadiens series was 1.836 million viewers. Meanwhile, TSN averaged 561,000 viewers over 10 games during the second round, even with the net's average audience in '07. The most-watched telecast was the four-overtime Sharks-Stars Game Six on Sunday, which drew 801,000 viewers (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/6). The CBC's second-round playoff games averaged 1.370 million viewers, down 11% from last year's 1.537 million, "mainly because only one Canadian team, the [Canadiens], participated." Both the Senators and Canucks were still playing in the same round in '07. The Flyers-Canadiens series averaged 1.764 million viewers per game on the CBC, while Penguins-Rangers averaged 978,000 (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/8).