A heavy presence of Canadian teams continues to drag down U.S. viewership for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Stanley Cup playoff games have averaged 886,000 viewers on the ESPN networks and 882,000 on TNT Sports, down 28 and 19 percent respectively from last year, when U.S. viewership for the first two rounds was the highest on record.
Second round games averaged 1.2 million on each platform, compared to 1.6 million on ESPN and 1.5 million on TNT Sports last year.
The most-watched game of the second round was Jets-Stars Game 6 on ABC Saturday, which averaged 2.27 million viewers — the largest second round playoff audience of the current media rights deal that began in the 2021-22 season. Not coincidentally, it was also the first second round game on ABC in the current deal.
The Stars’ overtime win more-than-doubled last year’s equivalent window, the all-Canadian Canucks-Oilers on ESPN (1.01M).
On Sunday, Panthers-Maple Leafs Game 7 averaged 1.9 million across TNT and truTV — up from last year’s lone second round Game 7, which was again Oilers-Canucks on ESPN (1.66M). The Panthers’ blowout win, which peaked with 2.1 million, ranks as the most-watched playoff game on TNT Sports this season.
This year marked the first time since 2004 that three of the four second round series featured a Canadian team. As Canadian markets do not count toward U.S. television ratings, that is as much as anything the primary culprit in the declines. Of the 34 games on TNT Sports this postseaon, 21 have involved a Canadian team.
As one would expect, the heavy presence of Canadian teams has been beneficial north of the border. According to the NHL, the combined U.S. and Canadian viewership for the second round was 3.4 million — up 12% from last year and a ten-year high. The full Stanley Cup Playoffs is averaging 2.8 million across the two nations (+5%).
In addition to the Canadian factor, this year’s U.S. audience has also been impacted by a lack of traditional draws like the Bruins and Rangers.