NBC Sees Significant Overnight Ratings Increase For Cup Finals

NBC's Red Wings-Penguins Game Three Draws Increased Ratings Over '07

RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCE: Versus' coverage of the Penguins-Red Wings Stanley Cup Finals Game Two Monday night garnered a 2.0 coverage area rating with 2,608,371 viewers, up 233.3% from a 0.9 with 552,823 viewers for last year’s Ducks-Senators Game Two. Game Two also marks the net's most-watched telecast ever among total viewers and in the men 25-54 demographic. Games One and Two on Versus this year combined for the highest-rated and most-watched opening two games of the Finals since ‘02 (THE DAILY).

UNDER REVIEW: The GLOBE & MAIL's William Houston writes NBC analyst Pierre McGuire's coverage between the benches "continues to give NBC a dimension that the CBC doesn't have." McGuire is able to "give us reports on the mood of the benches and apprises us of developments, such as a too many men on the ice infraction that wasn't caught." McGuire's in-game interviews also brings viewers "closer to the action and heighten the viewing experience." But the "downside to NBC's three man play-by-play team, which has Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk in the booth along with McGuire at ice level, is too much chatter." Meanwhile, the CBC's "HNIC" coverage of Game Three was, "as usual, solid." The net's play-by-play team of Bob Cole and Greg Millen "say less than their NBC counterparts, and that's not necessarily a bad thing." Houston notes the CBC's audience for its Game Two coverage dropped to 1.869 million from 2.11 million for Game One. Houston: "That is not a surprise. The first game aired on a Saturday night, the traditional viewing night for hockey in [Canada]" (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/29).

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