Saturday Night's Stanley Cup Final On NBCSN Is Most Watched Game In 3 Years
By: Tori Hartshorn Jun. 04, 2018
Game 3 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final between the expansion Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals on Saturday night set numerous consumption records across NBCSN, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app, including:
- the most-watched Stanley Cup Final Game 3 in three years;
- Total Audience Delivery (TAD) increases of 18% and 25%, respectively, vs. the 2017 and 2016 Stanley Cup Final Game 3s;
- the second-most streamed NHL game ever;
- and the highest-rated NHL game on NBCSN for Washington, D.C.
Hosting their first Stanley Cup Final game since 1998, the Capitals defeated the Golden Knights, 3-1, in Game 3 on Saturday on NBCSN to take the series lead, 2-1. Game 4 between the Golden Knights and Capitals is set for tonight from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Pre-game coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
The Game 3 TAD of 3.576 million viewers, according to Fast National data by the Nielsen Company and streaming data by Adobe Analytics, was up 18% vs. last year's Pittsburgh-Nashville Game 3 (3.033 million) on NBCSN, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app, and up 25% vs. the comparable 2016 game (Pittsburgh-San Jose, 2.859 million).
TV-only viewership peaked at 4.154 million viewers between 10:45-11 p.m. ET.
Digitally, Game 3 is the second-most streamed NHL game in history, behind only last Wednesday's Game 2. Game 3 delivered 322,000 uniques (+20% vs. 2017) and 25.3 million live minutes (+54%). The Average Minute Audience of 137,000 viewers was up 71%. Game 2 produced NHL streaming records of 366,000 uniques, 27.0 million live minutes, and an AMA of 140,000 viewers.
Locally, Washington, D.C.'s, 15.2 rating for Game 3 is the market's highest-rating ever for an NHL game on NBCSN. Las Vegas' 18.3 local rating is its second-highest NBCSN game, behind only last Wednesday's Game 2 (19.8).
Following are the ratings for the Top 10 markets for Saturday night's Stanley Cup Final Game 3 on NBCSN:
| Rank | Metered Market | Rating |
| 1 | Las Vegas | 18.29 |
| 2 | Washington D.C. | 15.17 |
| 3 | Baltimore | 7.45 |
| 4 | Buffalo | 6.44 |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 5.11 |
| 6 | Richmond | 4.77 |
| 7 | Minneapolis | 4.52 |
| 8 | St. Louis | 3.16 |
| 9 | Ft. Myers | 2.92 |
| 10 | Norfolk | 2.83 |
Through three games (one NBC, two NBCSN), the 2018 Stanley Cup Final is averaging a Total Audience Delivery of 4.230 million viewers, up 14% vs. 2017 (3.726 million). The entire 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs (81 games) is averaging 1.327 million viewers, up 8% vs. 2017 (1.224 million).
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final concluded NBC Sports' cable coverage of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which produced a TAD of 1.054 million viewers (66 games) across NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, Golf Channel, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app, making it the second-best cable delivery in 21 years, behind only 2014 (1.098 million).
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