NHL Playoffs Set New Viewership Record

The National Hockey League (NHL) has delivered its most-watched playoffs on record, with an average of 1.8 million viewers for all games across various networks, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, TNT, and truTV. This surpasses the previous record of 1.56 million viewers in 1996 by 17% and marks a 68% increase from last season.

The Hurricanes-Golden Knights series was the most-viewed Stanley Cup Final since 2019, with an average of 5.2 million viewers for the six-game series. It had a significant increase from the Panthers-Oilers series last year, which averaged 2.5 million viewers on TNT and truTV.

ESPN networks delivered 2.2 million viewers for 43 playoff games, marking its best figure yet for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Games on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 were up 127% compared to last year and 19% compared to 2024.

TNT also had its best playoffs yet, with playoff games across TNT, TBS, and truTV averaging 1.4 million viewers, up 50% from last year through the conference finals. The success of the playoffs follows the league‘s best regular-season numbers in 14 years.

Game 6 of the Hurricanes-Golden Knights series averaged 5.9 million viewers on Sunday night, marking the best Game 6 of a Cup Final since the Blues-Bruins series in 2019. The game peaked at 7.2 million viewers at 10:45pm ET, comparable to viewership for other major sports events.

The Hurricanes-Golden Knights series performed exceptionally well in comparison to other recent Stanley Cup Finals, with a 106% increase in viewership from the previous year’s Panthers-Oilers series and a 26% increase from the 2024 series. The series’ success can also be seen in its comparison to other sports events, such as the Virginia-Missouri Gator Bowl and NFL games, which drew similar viewership numbers.