Ratings Roundup: Turner Sports' Coverage of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Becomes Most-Watched on Cable of All Time; More NHL, NBA Notes By SVG Staff
Friday, May 20, 2022 - 7:00 am
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Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Turner Sports' first round coverage of 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs is most-watched on cable of all time, 2022 NBA Playoffs through Conference Semifinals is the most-viewed in eight years, MLB.TV breaks consumption records for streaming through first 40 days of season, and more.
Turner Sports' First Round Coverage of 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Is Most-Watched on Cable of All Time Turner Sports' coverage of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Round 1 is the most watched first round on cable ever, and broke individual game and total round all-time records for cable.
Sunday's New York Rangers thrilling overtime victory over the Pittsburgh in their decisive Game 7 matchup delivered 2.3 million average viewers and is the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Finals game on cable since 2018. Saturday's tightly contested Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Game 7 averaged 1.7 million viewers. Both games rank as the two most-watched first round games on cable of all time.
Stanley Cup Playoff games televised on TNT and TBS averaged 812,000 viewers across 25 telecasts and is the most-watched Round 1 on cable ever, up 60% vs. 2021 Round 1 on cable, and up 27% vs. 2019. TNT and TBS accounts for 4 of the top 5 most-watched games of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs so far.
Female viewership for playoff games airing on TNT and TBS continues to see substantial increases, up 83% vs. Round 1 on cable in 2021, and up 49% from 2019.
Additionally, the first round of Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage on Bleacher Report's social handle generated a 104% increase in total engagements compared to coverage of the entire 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
B/R Open Ice reached over 2.9 million fans on Instagram during the first round of coverage ( 91% vs. April 17 May1).
2022 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN and ESPN2 Draw Strong Round One Viewership The first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 725,000 viewers across 26 games - an increase of 43% versus 2021's first round cable average. ESPN and ESPN2 delivered six of the top 10 most-viewed Stanley Cup Playoff games so far this season, while the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers delivered as the most-viewed game one of a first round Stanley Cup Playoff ever on cable with 1.04 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million.
Saturday's Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes game seven averaged 1.6 million viewers, up 112% versus the comparable 2021 game, and was the fourth most-viewed round one game on cable ever. The Hurricanes victory peaked at 2.2 million viewers. Saturday night's game seven matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers averaged 1.1 million viewers and peaked at 1.2 million.
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs ended with the Calgary Flames beating the Dallas Stars at home in a game seven overtime showdown, averaging 1.01 million viewers - an increase of 99% versus the comparable game in 2021 - and peaking at 1.2 million.
Now in the second round, ESPN is continuing its impressive run of ratings on ESPN. Game 1 of Rangers-Hurricanes averaged 1.7 million viewers, which is up 10% vs. the comparable second round cable game in 2021. This was also the most-viewed Stanley Cup Playoff Game 1 of Round 2 on cable since 2015. Game 1 of Oilers-Flames averaged 894,000 viewers, which is up 40% vs. the comparable second round cable game in 2021.
2022 NBA Playoffs Through Conference Semifinals Is Most-Viewed in Eight Years Prior to the start of the Conference Finals, NBA playoff viewership is at the highest level in nearly a decade.
The first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs averaged 3.71 million viewers across TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV, the highest average at this point of the playoffs since 2014. Viewership is up 14% from last year (3.26M), 53% from the months-delayed bubble two years ago (2.43M) and 4% from 2019, the previous postseason to begin as normal in the month of April (3.55M).
Excluding games on NBA TV, the postseason is averaging 4.08 million - up 15% from last year (3.56M), up 62% from two years ago (2.53M) and up 7% from '19 (3.80M). It should be noted that out-of-home viewing was not included in 2019 (or prior years). (SportsMediaWatch)
Now in the penultimate round, TNT's exclusive coverage of the 2022 NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks averaged 6.5 million total viewers on Wednesday night to deliver the network's most-watched NBA Conference Finals Game since 2018.
The network's Mavericks/Warriors telecast - which delivered the most watched NBA Playoff game on cable this year - is up 21% over TNT's presentation of the 2021 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 (Hawks/Bucks, 5.4 million viewers) and 38% when compared with last year's WCF Game 1 (Clippers/Suns, 4.7 million viewers).
Wednesday night's WCF Game 1 telecast - peaking with an average of 7.5 million viewers from 9:45-10 p.m. ET - was the No. 1 program of the night across all of cable, and together with the iconic Inside the NBA post-game show (2.7 million viewers), delivered cable's top two programs across key demos. Overall, TNT's 2022 NBA Playoffs coverage has led the network to win the night on cable in primetime 18 times.
Overall, TNT continues to deliver its most watched NBA Playoffs coverage since 2018, averaging 3.8 million total viewers (38 telecasts). Wednesday night's 9.4 rating in Dallas was TNT's best in th
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