NBCSN Has Best Opening Night on Cable Since 2002
April 12, 2012 1 Comment
The numbers are in for NBC’s opening night coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
7:30 Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh (NBCSN) - 844,000
8:00 Detroit vs. Nashville (CNBC) - 336,000
10:30 Los Angeles vs. Vancouver (NBCSN) - 467,000
According to a friend at NBC, this is the best opening night on cable since 2002. The CNBC numbers are nearly double the network’s primetime average of 194,000. Only six games from last year’s opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs had more viewers than Game 1 of Flyers/Pens, and those were all Game 5′s or later.
Here are the numbers from opening night of the playoffs last year:
7:00 p.m. Phoenix vs. Detroit, Game 1 – 484,000 viewer
9:44 p.m. NY Rangers vs. Washington, Game 1 – 673,000 viewers
10:38 p.m. Chicago vs. Vancouver, Game 1 – 540,000 viewers
(Source: @TVsportsratings, @RonWechsler)
About stevelepore
It’s only been 1 night and I absolutely love having every game available to me.
The NCAA tournament proved that having multiple games on can only help – you know there were people watching Pens/Flyers that switched over Red Wings/Smashville at some point to help those numbers.