The 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final will be going to a Game 6 thanks to Edmonton’s Game 5 win, which followed a similar viewership path as the rest of the series.
The Oilers’ 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers averaged 4.1 million viewers on ABC, per a Wednesday release from ESPN. That’s up 51% from Vegas-Florida last year (a Game 5 record-low 2.721 million viewers) on TNT and truTV and down from Tampa Bay-Colorado in 2022 (5.145 million) on ABC.
Through five games, the series is averaging 3.4 million viewers. That’s up 31% from last year’s series, which ended in five games.
Per the NHL, Game 5 averaged 8.5 million viewers across all of North America, up 61% from 2023’s Game 5. The Final is averaging 7.2 million viewers across the continent through five games, a 64% increase from last season.
So far this series, every game has been up from 2023 and down from 2022. This year’s series has also been up from every game in the pandemic-impacted 2020 and 2021 Finals.
This seems like a pretty good result for the NHL, with at least one game to go. A matchup between a Canadian team and a Sun Belt team is not a great series on paper for the league, but the fact that it’ll finish ahead of three of the last four Finals is a strong outcome. The whole series airing on broadcast TV has been beneficial to its overall reach and viewership, and the NHL will likely be in for a decline next season (even if it lands a better matchup) with the series shifting back to cable and TNT.
The 2024 Stanley Cup Final continues with Game 6 on Friday, June 21, airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
[ESPN]
