The 2024 Stanley Cup Final has completely flipped on its head as of late with the Edmonton Oilers winning the last three games to tie up the series with the Florida Panthers at three games a piece. And as the series has tightened up, the viewership numbers continue to climb.
Friday’s Game 6 broadcast on ESPN brought in 4.2 million viewers, according to an ESPN press release, which is an improvement over every game thus far in this series.
https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/1804614149227618483
This is also an improvement of the final game of the 2023 Stanley Cup. However, on a more negative note, it is a significant regression in comparison to other recent Game 6 Stanley Cup matchups.
According to Sports Media Watch, Friday’s Game 6 viewership numbers were the fifth-lowest for a Stanley Cup Game 6 matchup in the past 30 years. The 2022 Stanley Cup Final between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning, which also went six games, brought in 5.82 million viewers.
If you are ESPN, there are obvious positives and negatives about the viewership numbers of Game 6. It should inspire confidence that each game in this series has grown in viewership.
On the other hand, it seems quite clear that this year’s Stanley Cup is still set to rank quite unfavorably in comparison to other Finals of the past.
With that being said, it should be interesting to see how ratings top out in the final game of the series in Monday night’s winner-take-all Game 7 matchup.
[ESPN PR on X, Sports Media Watch]
