Three Game 7s Continue NHL Ratings Bonanza

The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs first round was full of excitement and unexpected results. Thus it made for great television. While only a couple of games appeared on network television, the NHL continued to see a rise in their nationals thanks to the partnership with ESPN and Turner. Again regardless of what you think of their broadcasters and in-studio analysts (all of whom) have gotten better, hockey fans are tuning in more this year than they did last year to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Many thought it was a ratings bonanza for the NHL last season. However, ESPN and Turner have done a good job keeping the fans engaged as playoffs ratings again set new records. Helping that cause was the fact the NHL had three Game 7s to close out the first round of the playoffs. Not to mention the big market teams made the playoffs once again along with thrilling overtime games.

Let’s look at how the NHL ratings did this past weekend.

Game 7s Power NHL TV Ratings

The following numbers are from Showbuzzdaily.com

Sunday NHL Ratings:

Florida Panthers vs Boston Bruins at 6:36 pm on Turner averaged 3.045 million viewers with a 1.13 in the P18-49 demo.

Seattle Kraken vs Colorado Avalanche at 9:56 pm on Turner averaged 2.017 million with a .76 in the P18-49 demo.

Both Stanley Cup Playoff Game 7s were one and two on the cable charts. And while their viewership numbers did not beat network television, just looking at the demo, the NHL has not seen numbers like this in a long time. Especially going over a 1.00 in the P18-49.

The Game 7s continued a trend from Saturday night that saw the Stanley Cup Playoffs draw over a million viewers on both network and regular cable.

Monday NHL Ratings:

New York Rangers vs New Jersey Devils at 8:08 pm on ESPN did 2.045 million viewers with a .69 in the P18-49 demo. The game with fourth on the cable charts behind the NBA Playoffs but ahead of WWE Raw, which normally does well.

The Devils and Rangers have been one of the better draws this year for the NHL during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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ESPN and Turner are Good For NHL Ratings:

Things continue to be good for the NHL’s television partners ESPN and Turner. Between TNT and TBS the NHL averaged 959,000 viewers during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was the most watched first on cable of all time as it was up 18 percent from 2022. Turner had four of the most watched first-round games on cable all time.

The NHL saw an average viewership number on ESPN of 881,000 viewers which is up 22 percent from 2022. The Devils and Rangers Game 7 as noted averaged around 2 million viewers and it was the third most viewed first-round game ever on cable. Their Game 6 battle on Saturday night was the most viewed first-round Game 6 since 2018 averaging around 1.9 million viewers.

As we can see from the numbers having a Game 7 is beneficial to the numbers. The Bruins and Panthers Overtime Game 7 Thriller was the most watched Round 1 game of All-Time on Cable and Most Watched Round 1 Game on any network in over a decade.

Overall the NHL has seen a 16 percent increase in viewership from last year and a 49 percent increase from 2021.

Let’s see how the numbers do with two big markets going out in Round 1. Can they sustain with no Network Games in the Second Round and beyond as Turner has the Stanley Cup Final this year?