Game 4 of Penguins-Predators 2017 Stanley Cup Final is Second-Most Watched Game 4 on Record

Last night's Game 4 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final on NBC, in which the NASHVILLE Predators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., was the second-most watched Stanley Cup Final Game 4 on record, according to Fast National Data from The Nielsen Company.

Penguins-Predators Game 4 on NBC (8:09-11:09 p.m. ET) averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 5.737 million viewers, up 34% vs. last year's Game 4 between the Penguins and San Jose Sharks (4.291 million), surpassing every game of last year's Stanley Cup Final, including the Cup-clinching Game 6 on NBC.

Despite neither NASHVILLE (#29) nor Pittsburgh (#23) being a Top 20 TV market, the CONTEST was the second-most watched Game 4 on record (since 1994), behind only Boston-Chicago on NBC in 2013 (6.459 million), which are the #9 and #3 TV markets, respectively. Through four games, the 2017 Stanley Cup Final is averaging a TAD of 4.231 million viewers, up 24% vs. 2016 (3.414 million).

Game 4 peaked with more than 6.3 million TV-only viewers during the 10:45-11 p.m. ET quarter-hour. The full CONTEST averaged 5.654 million TV-only viewers and posted a 3.24 household rating, up 34% and 29%, respectively, vs. Game 4 a year ago (2.52 HH rating; 4.234 million viewers).

Locally, NASHVILLE posted a 28.0 rating, an all-time record for the market for an NHL game on the networks of NBC, surpassing its Game 1 rating (22.5). Pittsburgh delivered a 30.9 local rating to lead all local U.S. markets. NBC was the No. 1 network overall in both markets during the game.

Digitally, Game 4 delivered the fourth-most live minutes ever for an NHL game with 16.7 million, up 66% vs. Game 4 last year (9.8 million). Penguins-Predators also totaled 217,000 unique devices and an Average Minute Audience of 83,000 viewers, both up 44%, respectively, vs. Penguins-Sharks in 2016 (151,000 devices and 57,000 AMA).

Through 82 games, the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs have delivered 1.9 million unique devices and 496.6 million live minutes, up 22% and 30%, respectively vs. 2016. With Thursday night's Game 5, streaming for the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs is expected to deliver 2 million unique devices and exceed a half-billion live minutes, both records.

Following are Top 10 markets from last night's Game 4 on NBC:

Market	HH Rating
1. Pittsburgh	30.9
2. Nashville	28.0
3. Buffalo	11.2
4. Knoxville	10.2
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul	7.9
6. Denver	6.1
7. Detroit	5.5
8. Richmond-Petersburg	5.3
9. Philadelphia	5.3
10. West Palm Beach	5.0

NBC Sports' coverage of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final continues Thursday night, June 8, with Game 5 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. Following is the full telecast schedule for the remainder of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final on NBC. Pre-game coverage will begin each night with NHL Live at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Date	Coverage	Network	Time (ET)
Thur., June 8	Game 5 - NASHVILLE at Pittsburgh	NBC	8 p.m.
Sun., June 11	Game 6 - Pittsburgh at Nashville	NBC	8 p.m.
Wed., June 14	Game 7 - NASHVILLE at Pittsburgh *	NBC	8 p.m.

*if necessary

Image courtesy of NBC.

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