Rangers/Caps Triple OT Classic Draws 1.9 million
May 3, 2012 9 Comments
The first triple-overtime game of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs drew big numbers on NBC Sports Network.
Game 3 between the Rangers and Capitals drew 1.85 million viewers last night on NBCSN, easily topping Game 2 of the series as the most watched game of the playoffs on cable. According to my numbers, Game 3 is the second most-watched non-Final game ever on NBCSN/VERSUS/OLN, save for Bruins/Lightning Game 7 last year. It beats out all other games from last year’s playoffs, and last year’s second round. This would make it the second most-watched non-Stanley Cup game since the lockout on cable.
Locally, the game scored record ratings in New York, where it drew a 3.99, highest for any NHL game ever on NBC Sports Network, VERSUS or OLN in the market. It was also up 93% from VERSUS’ exclusive broadcasts of the Rangers/Penguins series in 2008, the last time New York made it to the semifinals. In Washington DC, the game drew a 6.8, up 6% over the exclusive broadcasts from last year’s Lightning/Capitals semifinal series.
Top 10 Most-watched Games of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Cable
1. NY Rangers vs. Washington, Game 3 (5/2/12, NBCSN): 1.85 million
2. Washington vs. NY Rangers, Game 2 (4/30/12, NBCSN): 1.53 million
3. Washington vs. Boston, Game 7 (4/25/12, NBCSN): 1.32 million
4. New Jersey vs. Philadelphia, Game 2 (5/1/12, NBCSN): 1.29 million
5. Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh, Game 5 (4/20/12, NBCSN): 1.07 million
6. Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (4/18/12, NBCSN): 1.03 million
7. Ottawa vs. NY Rangers, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 984,000
8. New Jersey vs. Florida, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 867,000
9. NY Rangers vs. Ottawa, Game 6 (4/23/12, NBCSN): 861,000
10. Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh, Game 1 (4/11/12, NBCSN): 847,000
(Source: TVBytheNumbers, NBC Sports)
Puck The Media 
Don’t worry tho… according to ESPN, all 1.85 million people were either in NY or WAS since people outside of those markets don’t care what is going on with the NHL…. God i hate ESPN but boy i love these numbers
this was basically two games. To average 1.85 million viewers on a network other than espn and it lasting 5 hours, is pretty darn good. Peak must have been around 2.5 million viewers or so.
Some notes to add:
1) Game peaked @ 10:30 with 2.7 Million viewers. That was near the end of the 1st Overtime.
2) Also from TVbythenumbers, it beat out the 7pm NBA playoff game on TNT (same start time).. 1.85 Million vs. only 1.8 Million for the NBA game. Obviously the NBA is more popular but that’s a good sign for the NHL. That it would have more viewers than an NBA playoff game.
And to think, NBC didn’t want a Caps-Rangers Winter Clunker in 2010 because they didn’t think the ratings would be high enough…
Finally it is all paying off. Very encouraging news, there is no doubt if we get a philly/nyr series they will smash record for non=stanley cup/conference finals games.
I think NYR/Devils or Caps/Flyers would also break records. I think Caps/Devils probably wouldn’t, but that series seems unlikely right now.
But I agree that Rangers/Flyers would definitely be the biggest/best option for NBC right now. That would kill in the ratings.
Could we hope that NBC might put a game or two of that series in broadcast Saturday primetime?
JUST A REGIONAL SPORT, GUYS
seriously DM. well over half of that audience has to be from nyc and dc metro areas. easily.