Ratings Roundup: YES Sets Non-Game Record With ‘Derek Jeter Night’; NBC’s Stanley Cup Playoffs Up Through First Two Rounds

Ratings roundup is a rundown of ratings news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, Derek Jeter Night was the most-viewed non-game program in YES Network history, NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 is up on ABC, NBC’s Stanley Cup Playoffs are up 7% through the first two rounds, Sportsnet’s Stanley Cup Playoffs are up 41% over last year in Canada, and NBC delivers its largest Kentucky Derby audience since 1989.

“Derek Jeter Night” Special Is Most-Viewed Non-Game Program in YES History
Sunday night’s Derek Jeter Night pre-game special on YES, which included the live telecast of the ceremony in which Jeter’s iconic #2 was retired, was the most-viewed non-game program in the network’s history, averaging 724,000 Total Viewers in the New York DMA (a 5.79 average TV Household rating). The YES Network special, which aired from 6:00-7:30 pm ET, peaked between 7:15-7:30 pm ET, when 952,000 Total Viewers tuned in (a 7.42 Household Rating). In addition, YES was the most-viewed Nielsen-rated network in the New York DMA for each quarter-hour between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm (four quarter-hours; ceremony portion).

In addition, YES-produced videos generated more than 3 million views across all of YES’ digital platforms (YESNetwork.com, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) from Sunday morning through this morning. (YES Network)…

NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 Up on ABC
ABC’s 2017 NBA Western Conference Finals – the Golden State Warriors defeated the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in an comeback victory – delivered a 5.6 metered market rating. This was up 37% from ESPN’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 coverage in 2016 (Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors, 4.1). It peaked with a 7.7 rating from 6-6:15 p.m. ET. Sunday’s Warriors-Spurs telecast was the highest-rated Conference Finals Game 1 on ABC or ESPN since 2014.

Yesterday’s game was also ESPN’s best streaming audience ever, across metrics, for an NBA Conference Finals Game 1. It generated an average minute audience of 182,200 viewers, up 20% from last year. Additionally, it drew 850,500 unique viewers up 62% from 2016 and had 30,611,400 total minutes streamed, up 23%.

In the San Francisco-Oakland market, Game 1 delivered a 17.2 rating, which is the highest-rated NBA postseason game on ABC in the market this season. In the San Antonio market, the telecast delivered a 24.7 which also marks the highest-rated NBA game in the market this season.

NBC’s Stanley Cup Playoffs Up 7% Through First Two Rounds
Through the first two rounds (65 games), the Total Audience Delivery (TAD) for NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoff is averaging 988,000 viewers across NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app, up 7% vs. last year’s playoffs (925,000) and the best in three years. TV-only is averaging 965,000 viewers and a 0.58 HH rating, up 7% and 4%, respectively, vs. last season (905,000, 0.56). Streaming has delivered nearly 300 million minutes (299.1) on 1.3 million unique devices, producing an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 23,000 viewers, all records through the first two rounds.

The TAD for just the second round across NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app averaged 1.365 million viewers, up 6% vs. last year (1.290 million) and the best in three years. It was the most-streamed second round ever, totaling nearly 900,000 devices and 164.8 million live minutes, up 36% and 50%, respectively vs. last season (663,000 and 109.6 million).

The Game 7 doubleheader on NBCSN on May 10 featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals and the Edmonton Oilers-Anaheim Ducks was the most-watched doubleheader in NBCSN history, averaging a TAD of 1.990 million viewers, which topped the prior record of 1.717 (5/14/14, Montreal-Boston Game 7 and Anaheim-Los Angeles, Game 6).

Penguins-Capitals Game 7 (7:29-10:10 p.m. ET) averaged a TAD of 2.569 million viewers to rank as the fourth-most watched second round game in NBCSN history. The TAD was up 87% compared to last year’s St. Louis-Dallas Game 7 (1.373 million) and peaked in the final 10 minutes with 3.506 million viewers (TV only). The game averaged 2.48 million TV-only viewers and a 1.49 HH rating. Penguins-Capitals is the most streamed game in NHL history, including all Stanley Cup Final games, with 15.3 million minutes and an Average Minute Audience of 88,300 viewers. It also delivered 213,000 unique devices. Locally, Washington D.C. recorded an 8.3 HH rating, the highest rating ever in the market for a game on NBCSN, while Pittsburgh delivered a 23.9 rating, its second-highest second round rating ever on the network.

The TAD for Game 7 (10:10 p.m. – 12:50 a.m. ET) of the Edmonton-Anaheim series averaged 1.408 million viewers, making it the most-watched late game featuring a Canadian team in NBCSN history, and up 29% vs. Nashville-San Jose Game 7 last year (1.094 million), which began one hour earlier. The game averaged 1.364 million TV-only viewers and a 0.79 HH rating.

Following are the second round local ratings for the six U.S. markets for games involving their respective teams: Pittsburgh 20.2, St Louis 9.4, Nashville, 7.9, Washington 7.3, NY Rangers 3.5, and Anaheim 1.3.

Sportsnet’s First Two Rounds of Stanley Cup Playoffs Deliver Huge Ratings in Canada
Since April 1, Sportsnet audiences are up 41% over last year and up 114% over its closest competitor (as of May 11). The network’s share of the Canadian television audience this spring is also up and is more than double the competition. Leading the way this spring is the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with more than two-thirds of all Canadians (24.9 million) tuning in to watch all or some of the Stanley Cup Playoffs so far. The two series featuring Canadian teams in Round 2 averaged 1.7 million viewers, while the overall Round 2 average was 1.5 million viewers. The most-watched game of Round 2 was Game 6 of the Ottawa and New York Rangers series with an average audience of 2.4 million viewers on Sportsnet and CBC. The most-watched game to-date of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was Round 1: Game 2 with Toronto @ Washington, with an average audience of 3.64 million viewers. The average for the five series featuring Canadian teams in Round 1 was 1.8 million viewers, with an overall Round 1 average of 1.3 million viewers

In addition to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sportsnet Central overnight edition is up 54%, Sportsnet Central prime-time edition is up 34%, and Sportsnet Central AM is up 31% over this time period last year.

On digital platforms, traffic to Sportsnet.ca, the Sportsnet app, Sportsnet NOW, and Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE are also up significantly this spring year-over-year: on Sportsnet.ca and the Sportsnet app, page views have increased 30%, visits to the Sportsnet app are up 89%, unique visitors to Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE increased by 78% with total minutes watched up 66%, and Sportsnet NOW visitors have grown by 93%

NBC Delivers Largest Kentucky Derby Audience Since 1989
Always Dreaming’s victory in the Kentucky Derby posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of 16.5 million viewers across NBC and NBC Sports Digital platforms – marking the largest Kentucky Derby audience since 1989 (18.5 million viewers for Sunday Silence’s win on ABC). TV-only Kentucky Derby viewership peaked at 19.1 million viewers from 6:45-7:00 p.m. ET when Always Dreaming crossed the finish line 2¾ lengths ahead of Lookin at Lee – up 7% from the peaks of the past two Kentucky Derby races, won by Nyquist in 2016 and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015 (17.9 million for both). The 143rdKentucky Derby (6:24-7:11 p.m. ET) on NBC averaged 16.4 million TV-only viewers with a 9.3/22 HH rating – up 6% and 3% respectively from last year. Saturday’s Kentucky Derby is television’s most-watched Saturday afternoon program since the NFC Divisional Playoff (Jan. 14, 2017). This is the fifth consecutive year and seventh time in nine years (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017) that NBC’s Kentucky Derby coverage averaged more than 15 million viewers. NBC’s five-year streak (2013-17) averaging 15+ million viewers is the only such Kentucky Derby stretch in People Meter history (Kentucky Derby viewership history at bottom).

NBC Sports Digital’s presentation of the Kentucky Derby ranks as the most-streamed Kentucky Derby ever, delivering 9 million minutes, up 30% from last year. The stream also delivered a record 281,000 unique users. The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for the Kentucky Derby via the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com was 97,800 viewers.

Louisville, the home of the Kentucky Derby, topped the metered markets with a 39.0 rating/65 share.