Monday night’s Stanley Cup Final is Sportsnet’s most-watched broadcast ever with an average minute audience of 7.55 million across Sportsnet, Citytv and CBC, according to Numeris data released by Rogers Sports & Media.
The Game 7 broadcast, which saw the Florida Panthers defeat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1, is also the second most-watched NHL game ever in Canada (behind the Vancouver Canucks’ Game 7 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins in 2011), based on data collected since 2009. Last night’s broadcast reached 15 million Canadians or 39% of the population.
It additionally set a record as the most-watched program ever on Sportsnet+, reaching 1.93 million streamers.
Prior to puck drop, Sportsnet’s Hockey Central pre-game show delivered an average audience of 4.1 million.
The network says between April 20 and June 24, the playoffs reached 24.5 million Canadians on Sportsnet, averaging 1.5 million viewers.
Audiences for the Stanley Cup Final round were up 128%, compared to last year when Canadian teams were eliminated from the Conference and Stanley Cup Finals, and 19% for the entire playoffs.
In the U.S. where the Stanley Cup Final aired on ABC, ESPN+ and the network’s Spanish-language specialty channel ESPN Deportes, the game averaged 7.7 million viewers and reached an average of 3.1 million people 18-49, up 182% and 170% versus last year’s Stanley Cup Final Game 5 clincher between Florida and Las Vegas, and up 32% and 39% versus 2022’s Stanley Cup Final Game 6 on ABC between Colorado and Tampa Bay.
Oilers-Panthers Game 7 viewership peaked at 10.3 million in the 10:45 p.m. ET quarter-hour and drew the largest non-Original Six audience on record. It also ranks as the most-viewed NHL game ever on ESPN+.
This season’s Stanley Cup Final averaged 4.2 million U.S. viewers and 1.5 million people 18-49 – up 58% and 43% versus 2023’s Stanley Cup Final average.
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