Wednesday Final Nationals: Predators-Penguins on NBCSN Earn Second-Most Watched NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 2 on Cable in 15 Years

CBS, Fox and NBCSN shared Wednesday night’s top honors. CBS won among total viewers (4.73 million).

Coverage of Game 2 of the “2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final” between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators put NBCSN on top among adults 18-49 (approx. 1.2 rating) and adults 18-34 (approx. 1.0 rating), as well as a virtual tie with Fox for the lead in adults 25-54 (approx. 1.4 rating).

Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 3.278 million viewers, up 27 percent vs. last year’s Game 2 between the Penguins and San Jose Sharks (2.579 million), according to The Nielsen Company.

Despite neither Nashville (#29) nor Pittsburgh (#23) being a Top 20 TV market, the contest was the second-most watched Stanley Cup Final Game 2 on cable since 2002 (Carolina-Detroit, ESPN, 3.782 million), behind only Boston-Chicago in 2013 (3.964 million), which are the #9 and #3 TV markets.

Game 2 (8:09 p.m. – 11:13 p.m. ET) peaked with 3.8 million TV-only viewers during the 9:45-10 p.m. ET quarter-hour. The full contest registered a 1.84 household rating, and averaged 3.18 million TV-only viewers, up 28 percent and 27 percent, respectively, vs. Game 1 a year ago (1.44 household rating; 2.507 million viewers).

Locally, Pittsburgh delivered a 31.1 local rating, the best ever for a Penguins game in the market on NBCSN, surpassing all previous Stanley Cup Final games on the network. Nashville posted a 16.3 local rating, the market’s second-best ever for a Predators game on NBCSN, trailing only last month’s Game 6 vs. Anaheim in the Western Conference Final (16.5). NBCSN was the No. 1 network overall in both markets during the game.

(Source: NBC Sports)

The night’s top telecast among all key demos — the third season finale of “Empire” — gave Fox the Wednesday win among adults 18-34 (1.4/7). Although Fox also scored a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49, the network (6.7) was just 0.3 behind CBS (7.0) in adults 18-49 share.

With the 2016-17 traditional TV season in the books, CBS was the most-watched network in total viewers (9.7 million) — a feat they’ve accomplished for nine consecutive years and for 14 of the past 15 years. NBC became the first network in five years to win the season’s adults 18-49 (2.1 rating, 2.7 million) and adults 25-54 crowns without the benefit of a Super Bowl or an in-season Olympics.

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* AFF = Number of affiliates (stations) airing the program
* CVG = percent of coverage in U.S.
	Wednesday, May 31, 2017
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			1.5/3	2298	0.3/2	0.5/2	0.7/3
8:00	The Goldbergs (r)	256	92	2.0/4	2961	0.3/2	0.6/3	0.9/3
8:30	Speechless (r)	253	92	1.6/3	2413	0.3/2	0.6/2	0.8/3
9:00	Modern Family (r)	257	93	1.9/4	2924	0.4/2	0.7/3	1.0/3
9:31	black-ish (r)	253	92	1.7/3	2645	0.3/2	0.6/3	0.9/3
10:00	Still Star-Crossed (rs)	254	93	0.9/2	1417	0.2/1	0.4/2	0.5/2
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			3.2/6	4729	0.3/2	0.6/3	1.0/3
8:00	NCIS: Los Angeles (rs)	253	93	3.3/6	4958	0.3/2	0.5/2	0.9/3
9:00	Criminal Minds (r)	253	93	3.4/6	5033	0.3/2	0.6/3	1.0/3
10:00	Code Black (r)	253	93	2.8/6	4196	0.3/2	0.6/3	0.9/3
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			3.1/6	4624	0.5/3	0.8/3	1.2/4
8:00	Little Big Shots	245	92	4.8/9	7452	0.6/4	1.1/5	1.6/6
9:00	The Carmichael Show (p)	245	92	2.7/5	4011	0.5/3	0.9/4	1.2/4
9:30	The Carmichael Show (s)	245	92	2.1/4	3206	0.5/2	0.7/3	1.0/3
10:00	This Is Us (r)	244	93	1.9/4	2811	0.3/2	0.5/2	0.8/3
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-10	Network Average			2.2/4	3499	0.7/4	1.1/5	1.4/5
8:00	MasterChef (p)	258	93	2.3/5	3666	0.7/4	1.1/5	1.4/5
9:00	The F Word with Gordon Ramsay (p)	258	93	2.0/4	3332	0.7/4	1.0/4	1.3/4
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-10	Network Average			0.4/1	596	0.1/1	0.2/1	0.2/1
8:00	Arrow (r)	246	83	0.4/1	573	0.1/1	0.2/1	0.2/1
9:00	D.C.’s Legends of Tomorrow (r)	246	83	0.4/1	619	0.1/1	0.2/1	0.2/1
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.9/2	1682		0.6/3
7:00	La Rosa de Guadalupe			0.9/2	1656		0.6/3
8:00	La Reina de la Cancion			0.9/2	1639		0.5/2
9:00	La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo			0.9/2	1777		0.7/3
10:03	La Piloto			0.9/2	1620		0.6/3
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.4/1	735		0.3/1
7:00	Moisés y Los Diez Mandamientos (r)			0.4/1	611		0.2/1
7:55	Moisés y Los Diez Mandamientos			0.7/1	1187		0.4/2
9:00	La Candidata			0.3/1	554		0.2/1
10:00	El Bienamado			0.3/1	437		0.2/1
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average (preliminary)			0.6/1	1075	0.3/2	0.4/2
8:00	El Capo (preliminary)			0.6/1	1100	0.3/2	0.4/2
9:00	La Querida del Centauro (preliminary)			0.6/1	1067	0.3/2	0.4/2
10:00	La Querida del Centauro (preliminary)			0.6/1	1059	0.3/2	0.4/2

Note: All of this date’s Telemundo data are based on preliminary figures.

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Wednesday 5/31/17

Cable Rankings – Wednesday 5/31/17
What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Wednesday, May 31:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research