Final Ratings: NBC Sports Network Sees Best Start To Stanley Cup Playoffs

NBC Sports Network averaged 656,000 viewers for its two NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games on Wednesday night, marking the net’s most-viewed opening night of the playoffs yet. The audience was up 23% compared to 534,000 viewers on the first night last year. Combined with one game on CNBC on Wednesday, the NHL’s opening night averaged 555,000 viewers, up 4% from last year. NBCSN’s Flyers-Penguins Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game One also marked the most-viewed opening night telecast in 10 years. Meanwhile, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia earned a 7.3 local rating for the Flyers' OT win over the Penguins, marking the net’s highest-rated opening Playoff game ever. The previous best was for the Sabres-Flyers opener in ’98. NESN also averaged an 11.6 local rating in Boston for last night's Capitals-Bruins Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game One, marking the net's best Bruins playoff opener ever.

STARTING LINEUPS: Fox finished with a 2.0 rating and 3.1 million viewers for its first MLB regular-season telecast last Saturday afternoon, which was led by Red Sox-Tigers in 43% of markets. That rating is flat compared to the comparable telecast last year, with viewership down slightly from 3.2 million viewers. The rating is tied with last year as the highest-rated opening weekend for the net since ’08. The Royals-Angels game also went to 17% of markets during the telecast, and in L.A., it earned a 3.0 local rating, marking the highest-rated for a Fox Saturday MLB telecast since July ’10 and highest for an Angels game in the market since ’08. Meanwhile, SportsNet N.Y. earned a 3.9 local rating (370,000 viewers) for Monday’s Nationals-Mets game, marking the net’s best primetime game since Mets-Tigers on June 24, 2010. Rogers Sportsnet averaged 1.33 million viewers for the Blue Jays’ home opener against the Red Sox on Monday, marking the net’s largest audience ever for a Blue Jays game. That figure is 36% higher than the previous record, set during last year’s opener against the Twins.

GREEN WITH ENVY: Golf Channel’s coverage of The Masters, which included pre- and post-round programming in the form of “Live From The Masters,” saw a 40% jump in viewership compared to last year. Coverage at The Masters also led the net to its most-viewed week so far in ’12. Meanwhile, leading into The Masters, viewership for the six PGA Tour events where NBC and Golf Channel shared coverage of the four rounds was up 20% year-over-year, and also marked the most-viewed string of tournaments leading up to The Masters since the current PGA Tour broadcast format was introduced in ’07. Golf Channel viewership for early round coverage remains up 16% from last year, with overall PGA Tour viewership on the net up 15%.

NOTES: FS Oklahoma earned a 10.0 local rating for Clippers-Thunder on Wednesday, marking the second time this season the matchup has set a new Thunder ratings record on the net. The matchup on March 21 earned a 9.8 local rating….ESPN2 averaged 498,000 viewers for Boston College’s win over Ferris State in Saturday’s men's hockey tournament championship game. That figure is down from the 826,000 viewers for last year’s Minnesota Duluth-Michigan finale on ESPN….Fox Soccer’s EPL Arsenal-Manchester City match last Sunday was the most-viewed, English-language soccer match for the week of April 1-8 with 409,000 viewers. By comparison, Telemundo’s telecast of the Mexico Primera Division Chivas de Guadalajara-Club America match on Sunday night averaged 1.9 million viewers.

The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. Figures for ABC and NBC were unavailable at presstime.