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The NHL has entered the conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a massive dip in U.S. postseason TV ratings.
Through the first two rounds, games on ESPN platforms are down 28% compared to the 2024 playoffs, averaging 886,000 viewers per broadcast, while games on TNT Sports platforms are down 19% year over year, averaging 882,000, according to Nielsen ratings cited by Sports Media Watch.
Second-round games were down 25% to 1.2 million on both ESPN and TNT Sports platforms. That mirrors an early playoff trend that saw the U.S. TV ratings down 27% after the opening slate of Round 1 games.
One major variable to consider when analyzing playoff viewership in the U.S. is that five of the 16 postseason participants were Canadian franchises, up from four last year. ESPN and TNT Sports broadcast only to U.S. viewers, as the NHL has separate media-rights deals in Canada.
Three teams north of the border reached the second round, and the Oilers are the lone Canadian squad in the final four. Per the NHL, second-round games averaged 2.2 million viewers in Canada, up 45% from last year. When factoring that in, combined U.S. and Canada TV audiences for the playoffs so far are up 5% from last year, averaging 2.8 million viewers per game.
Final Acts
The Oilers begin their Western Conference finals series against the Stars on Wednesday night. Edmonton, should it win, could end up in a Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Panthers, who beat the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.
Despite the Oilers hailing from Canada and the Panthers not being in a traditional hockey market, the two teams ended up in a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 last summer that was the NHL’s most-watched game on any network in five years. Florida’s championship-clinching victory drew 7.7 million viewers on ABC.
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