Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final Averages 5M Viewers

In addition, streaming for Game 1 totaled 13.7 million live minutes, second-best ever for Stanley Cup Final game. (Photo: AP Images)

Last night’s Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final on NBC, in which the Pittsburgh Penguins held on for an exciting 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa., averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 5.038 million viewers, up 22 percent vs. last year’s Game 1 between the Penguins and San Jose Sharks (4.132 million).

Despite neither Nashville (No. 29) nor Pittsburgh (No. 23) being a Top 20 TV market, the contest was the third-most watched Game 1 since NBC Sports began televising the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, behind only Boston-Chicago in 2013, which are the No. 9 and No. 3 TV markets, respectively, and Chicago-Tampa Bay (No. 11) in 2015.

Game 1 (8:11 – 11:04 p.m. ET) peaked with 5.5 million TV-only viewers during the 10:45-11 p.m. ET quarter-hour. The full contest posted a 2.85 household rating, and averaged 4.967 million TV-only viewers, both up 25 percent and 22 percent, respectively, vs. Game 1 a year ago (2.28 HH rating; 4.081 million viewers).

Locally, Nashville posted a 22.5 rating, an all-time record for a Predators game on the networks of NBC. Pittsburgh delivered a 35.7 local rating, a Top 5 Penguins rating in the market, up 16 percent vs. last year’s Game 1 (30.9), and topping all Stanley Cup Final games last year, except for Game 5 (36.9). NBC was the No. 1 network overall in both markets during the game.

Digitally, Game 1 delivered the second-most live minutes ever for a Stanley Cup Final game with 13.7 million, up 58 percent vs. Game 1 last year (8.667 million). Predators-Penguins also totaled 192,000 unique devices and an Average Minute Audience of 71,100 viewers, up 51 percent and 39 percent, respectively, vs. Penguins-Sharks in 2016 (127,000 devices and 51,300 AMA). Last night’s game was the third-most streamed game of the 2017 playoffs so far, behind only the Game 7s of the Ottawa-Pittsburgh and Washington-Pittsburgh series.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final continues tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 31, with Game 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. Pre-game coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN with a special two-hour edition of NHL Live.

In other viewership news from this past weekend, the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, which aired Sunday on NBC (7:56-10 am ET), averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 1.530 million viewers, up 14 percent vs. last year’s race (1.339 million), and making it the most-watched live F1 race on record. The Grand Prix delivered a 1.01 HH rating and averaged 1.511 million TV-only viewers. Monaco peaked with 1.674 million TV-only viewers from 9:30-9:45 am ET quarter-hour.