Last night’s thrilling triple overtime game between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals gave NBC Sports Network an average audience of 1.85 million people. It was the most-watched Conference Semifinal game on Versus/NBC Sports Network and was the most-watched NHL Conference Semifinal on cable dating back to a 2000 game on ESPN.
In the local markets, Game 3 of Rangers-Caps was the highest-rated cable program in both New York and Washington, DC. NYC had a 3.99 local rating, DC registered a 6.82 rating. Quite impressive.
And for tonight, NBC Sports Network gets a rare Conference Semifinal doubleheader with Game 3 of Philadelphia-New Jersey at 7:30 p.m. ET and then Game 3 of St. Louis-Los Angeles at 10 p.m.
Here’s the preview from NBC Sports Group.
GAME 3 DOUBLE-HEADER ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK TONIGHT
2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Day 23Philadelphia @ New Jersey, 7:30 p.m. ET – NBC Sports Network (Series tied 1-1)
St. Louis @ Los Angeles, 10 p.m. ET – NBC Sports Network (Los Angeles leads series 2-0)Rangers-Capitals 3 OT Game 3 is Most-Watched Semifinal on Cable in 12 Years
Viewership for NHL Playoffs on NBC is Best for a Broadcast Network in 14 YearsNEW YORK – May 3, 2012 – Day 23 – The NBC Sports Group continues its exclusive coverage of the NHL Conference Semifinals with a Game 3 double-header tonight on the NBC Sports Network. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET with NHL Live.
TONIGHT
Tonight’s coverage of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs starts in the Eastern Conference with #6 New Jersey Devils hosting #5 Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network (series tied 1-1). Following at 10 p.m. ET also on NBC Sports Network, the #8 Los Angeles Kings look to extend their 2-0 series lead at home against #2 St. Louis Blues. Tonight’s schedule (all times ET):
7:30 p.m. #5 Philadelphia Flyers @ #6 New Jersey Devils(Game 3) NBCSN Kenny Albert, Pierre McGuire 10 p.m. #2 St. Louis Blues @ #8 Los Angeles Kings (Game 3) NBCSN Dave Strader, Brian Engblom PRAISE FOR DOC
Last night’s Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 3 between the #1 New York Rangers and the #7 Washington Capitals ended in historic fashion with a Rangers goal in triple overtime to give New York a 2-1 victory and 2-1 series lead. Mike “Doc” Emrick, NBC Sports Network’s play-by-play voice, tirelessly called all the action for the game that began at 7:30 p.m. and continued until 12:14 a.m. this morning. His performance didn’t go unnoticed:
Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) of Sports Illustrated tweeted, “Worth saying as always: Mike Emrick is the best at what he does. As great in the third overtime as he was at the start.”
Richard Sandomir (@richsandomir) of the New York Times tweeted, “An astonishing performance by Doc Emrick. Nearly five hours into this 3 OT game he doesn’t sound ragged at all. What a job!”
VIEWERSHIP
Last night’s Rangers-Capitals game was watched by 1.85 million viewers, making it the most-watched Semifinal game ever on the NBC Sports Network (formerly VERSUS) and the most-watched Semifinal on cable in 12 years, since May 1, 2000 (Col-Det; Game 3; ESPN).
Locally, the game did a 3.99 rating in New York, the highest local rating ever in the market for an NHL game on NBC Sports Network (formerly VERSUS). The 3.99 is up 93% vs. the Rangers 2008 Semifinal average on NBCSN (2.07). NBC Sports Network was the No. 1 rated cable network in New York from 7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. ET.
In Washington, D.C., the game did a 6.82, up 6% vs. the Capitals’ 2011 Semifinal average on NBC Sports Network (6.45). NBC Sports Network was the No. 1 rated network in Washington from 7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. ET.
Through six days, average viewership for the Semifinals on NBC Sports Network is 1,224,000, up 50% vs. the same time last year 816,000.
Through three weekends on NBC, the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs are averaging 2.5 million viewers (eight games), the best through the first three playoff weekends in 14 years (Fox, 2.6 million, 1998), and up 32% vs. last year (1.9 million; six games). In the coveted M18-49 demo, NBC is averaging a 1.4 rating, up 56% vs. last year’s 0.9.
CHANNEL FINDER
With all 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games airing nationally for the first time and the Conference Semifinals being carried exclusively on either NBC, NBC Sports Network or CNBC, the NBC Sports Group created a channel finder to help fans find those channels in their area by simply entering a zip code.
Click here for the channel finder.
COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL COVERAGE
Comcast SportsNet, the local home for the Capitals and Flyers, will closely follow hometown team playoff progress with pre- and post-game coverage, breaking news and analysis throughout each team’s playoff run. CSN Philadelphia will be doing live pre- and post-game programs for all Flyers games in the second round and CSN Mid-Atlantic will have one-hour Capitals Postgame Live shows for all Capitals games in the second round. Both networks will also have extensive coverage online.
GAMES TELEVISED SO FAR
For the first time in the 95-year history of the NHL, every Stanley Cup Playoff game will be televised nationally. The NBC Sports Group will provide unprecedented access to the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs in April, May and June, televising as many as 105 playoff games and possibly more than 262.5 hours of programming. Games will be presented on NBC, the NBC Sports Network, the NHL Network, and NBCUniversal’s business channel CNBC in primetime.
NBC Sports Network Thirty Two* CNBC Thirteen NBC Eight NHL Network Six * Includes Devils-Panthers Conference Quarterfinal Game 7 that was joined in progress
And that is it.
