The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, which begin Wednesday night on NBC, are expected to suffer ratings-wise reports Media Life Magazine.
One
of the participating teams, the Canucks, is based in Vancouver. While
ratings for the Canadian city will likely be sky high, they won't be
factored into the Nielsen ratings because it lies outside the U.S.
Boston, which houses the other team, is a top 10 market, so the ratings will be solid, but not as high as they could be without Vancouver's numbers.
Overall,
viewership for the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs has been up across the
board. Versus has seen an average of 854k for its postseason coverage,
the highest in nine years. It's broadcast of the final game of the
Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Tampa Bay drew 2.55 million
viewers, the most-watched conference final game in network history.
NBC's limited coverage is also up 2% versus last year.
