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New York Rangers & Florida Panthers ECF series achieves record viewership on ESPN
The New York Rangers and Florida Panthers Eastern Conference finals series has drawn record audiences on ESPN networks. Game 5 between the Rangers and Panthers averaged 2.1 million total viewers, peaking at 2.7 million and 738,000 viewers aged 18-49.
This was up 6% and 15% compared to last year's West Final Game 5 on ABC between Dallas and Vegas, respectively. It also topped last year's East finals average on TNT by 31% and 12%, respectively.
The Eastern Conference finals' five games saw an average of 2.2 million viewers and 814,000 viewers in the crucial 18-49 age group. This shows a rise of 33% and 34%, respectively, compared to the five games of the 2023 East finals on ESPN.
Overall, the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs have averaged 1.36 million viewers and 563,000 viewers aged 18-49 through 40 games on ESPN channels. That's up 20% and 14%, respectively, over last year at the same stage.
ESPN+ streaming numbers also saw a boost, with Game 5 viewership improving 29% year-over-year.
The Florida Panthers took a 3-2 series lead with their 3-2 Game 5 victory at Madison Square Garden. With the series shifting back to Florida, the New York Rangers need a win to force a Game 7.
Fans react to record viewership on series between New York Rangers & Florida Panthers on ESPN
The record-breaking viewership numbers sparked lively discussions among fans on social media.
One fan pointed out the disparity:
"700k more for an NBA postgame show butting into midnight ET than for an NHL playoff game featuring a NY team."
However, another fan offered a different perspective, suggesting that the NHL playoff game could potentially achieve higher viewership if given a similar lead-in audience and a more condensed format:
"Sure, but give the NHL playoff game featuring a NY team a 6.1 million+ viewer lead-in and/or compress it to 52 minutes (from 175) and let's see what happens!"
"No one would ever argue that the NHL is even remotely close to the NBA in popularity. Thats not too fair. But it’s great that NHL ratings are way up," wrote one fan in favor of the ESPN ratings.
Here are some fan reactions to the increase in viewership of Game 5 between the Rangers & Panthers:
"Yea that’s known, I should’ve clarified that it speaks to Inside the NBA’s popularity and TNT will lose big time when they lose rights - their NHL deal is nice but it won’t come close," another fan wrote.
"Not sure what TNT is doing," one fan said.
"That's a pretty good number for the NHL, I believe," a user wrote.
As the series continues, fans eagerly anticipate not only the outcome of the games but also the potential for even higher viewership numbers.
Game 6 takes place at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday where the Panthers could close out the series at home and book their ticket to the Stanley Cup finals.
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