Montreal Canadiens overtime win keeps series alive — and messes with ABC’s Monday
Katie Thurston couldn’t skate to another Monday ratings victory last night, when ABC’s “The Bachelorette” got cross-checked by NBC’s Stanley Cup Finals Game 4.
Last night, the Montreal Canadiens staved off a sweep in the NHL’s championship round with an overtime win, 3-2. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s 3-0 lead is now 3-1. Still pretty commanding, but there is still hockey to be played.
Due to the nature of live sports, the below Nielsen numbers for NBC should be considered subject to significant adjustment. It is very likely that the hockey game’s initial returns will increase when finals numbers are in later today, and NBC executives will be hoisting last night’s primetime trophy.
For now, ABC and NBC are tied for first in ratings, both with a 0.6 in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. ABC is currently first in total viewers with an average of 2.7 million, according to preliminary numbers. NBC is currently second with 2.6 million total viewers.
Those (early) NBC numbers are all from the network’s Game 4 coverage. The Canadiens now head (very) south to Tampa Bay for Wednesday night’s Game 5, when the Lightning get their next crack at bringing home another Stanley Cup.
For ABC, “The Bachelorette” from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. averaged a 0.7 rating and 3.3 million total viewers. A rerun of “The Celebrity Dating Game” followed, dragging down the Disney-owned network’s overall primetime averages.
Fox was third in ratings with a 0.4 and fourth in total viewers with 1.5 million. “Hell’s Kitchen” at 8 had a 0.5 rating and 2.3 million total viewers. Repeats followed.
CBS was fourth in ratings with a 0.2 and third in total viewers with 2.5 million, airing all reruns.
The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 475,000. “All American” at 8 got a 0.2 rating and 635,000 total viewers. At 9, “Republic of Sarah” received a 0.1 rating and 315,000 total viewers.
We do not have Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo.
Tony Maglio
TV Editor • tony.maglio@thewrap.com • Twitter: @tonymaglio