Avs, Oilers, play most watched WCF Game 4 on cable in nearly a decade

The National Hockey League’s new rights deal which saw it switch from NBC to TNT and ESPN has been very successful thus far.

The Colorado Avalanche have also been very good this year, playing in the Stanley Cup Final starting next week. Their four-game Western Conference Finals series against the Edmonton Oilers was very hyped up for the possibility of high goal scoring with the high-flying Avs against the league’s best player–Connor McDavid.

While Colorado ended the series in a sweep, the ratings were still excellent for the exclusive TV partner, TNT.

On Wednesday, Turner Sports released the ratings, entailing Monday’s Game 4 as the most-viewed WCF Game 4 on cable since 2013 when the Kings and Blackhawks played for 2 million viewers). The Oil and Avs averaged 2 million viewers and peaked at 2.2 million. Turner says the four games were the most-watched Oilers games on cable of all time.

The series was the most-watched WCF series on cable since 2015, averaging 1.8 million viewers. Viewership for the four-game series finished up 58% over the 2021 WCF that featured Vegas and Montreal.

Folks love watching the Avs, after struggling to do so the past few years in the regular season due to the Altitude against Comcast dispute.

Turner is up big time on ratings, averaging 1 million viewers through 39 telecasts, up 41% compared to similar cable-televised windows in 2021.

TNT will exclusively host the Stanley Cup Final in 2023; this year’s will be on ESPN and ABC.

ESPN is now averaging 2.24 million viewers for the Lightning-Rangers NHL Eastern Conference Finals, up 61% from the first four games of the Lightning-Islanders matchup last year across NBC, NBCSN and USA.

Game 4 last night averaged 2.34 million last night

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) June 8, 2022

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