Caps-Golden Knights is the best figure on record for a Cup Final not involving an Original Six teamGETTY IMAGES
The five-game Capitals-Golden Knights series averaged a total audience delivery (TAD) of 4.92 million viewers across NBC's linear and digital outlets, marking the best NHL Stanley Cup Final since Blackhawks-Lightning in '15 (5.6 million viewers over six games). Caps-Golden Knights also is the best figure on record for a Cup Final not involving an Original Six team (figures dating back to '94). The '18 Cup Final was up 3% from the six-game Penguins-Predators series last year. Las Vegas led all markets for the five games with a 23.0 local rating, followed by DC (18.5) and Baltimore (9.9). On digital alone, the five games had an average audience minute of 117,300 viewers, which is a record for NBC Digital and up 41% from last year. The clinching Game 5 last Thursday night drew a TAD of 6.71 million viewers, marking the best Cup Final Game 5 in 16 years. For the complete '18 Stanley Cup Playoffs, NBC averaged a TAD of 1.45 million viewers (digital platforms, NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Net, Golf Channel). That is tied with '15 and '14 as the second-best playoffs since '97, behind only 1.47 million viewers in '13. The '18 playoffs were up 4% from 1.39 million viewers last year. Las Vegas and Pittsburgh led all markets during the playoffs with a 4.5 local rating, followed by Buffalo (3.3), DC (3.2) and Nashville (2.6) (NBC).
