Islanders playoff ratings on NBC Sports up a bit this season
Matt Martin of the New York Islanders is congratulated by teammates after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at Nassau Coliseum on June 19, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Rich Graessle
The Islanders never have been a big ratings draw compared with most other New York-area pro teams, but their recent postseason success has them trending in a positive direction.
Not counting games in which they faced the Rangers, the seven highest-rated Islanders games in the New York market on NBC’s cable channels have come during their runs to the past two Stanley Cup semifinals.
Their lone game on NBC during their current series with the Lightning averaged 2.27% of New York-area homes, up 49% over the teams’ one conference final game on NBC last year.
The four games that have been shown on NBCSN or USA Network have averaged 1.91% of area homes, up slightly from 1.78 when the teams met last year in this round.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
