The NHL Finals are set to begin Saturday between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers on ABC and they will look to capitalize on the viewership success of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs overall. The first three rounds of this year’s postseason have been the most-watched playoffs for the NHL since 1996 across the United States. They are also the most-watched playoffs since 2018 across North America.
The average US audience for the 2024 Conference Finals was 2 million viewers, which was up 26% year-over-year. The entire playoffs are up 14% year-over-year with an average audience of 1.3 million for games that aired on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS and truTV.
Across North America, the 2024 Conference Finals delivered an average audience of 3.9 million viewers, which is up 34% year-over-year for games that aired on ABC, ESPN, TNT, truTV, Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports.
The teams Edmonton and Florida beat in the conference finals, the Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers come from two of the top media markets in the US. Additionally, the NBA conference finals ended early with a long gap before the Finals, giving the NHL some additional time to shine.
Next week, Games 2, 3 and 4 will be played on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. If necessary, Games 5 and 6 would be the following Tuesday and Friday. If a Game 7 is needed, it will be played on Monday June 24.
