NBC 5 scores championship ratings

NBC 5 Chicago (June 15, 2015)

NBC 5 Chicago (June 15, 2015)

Half of all television households in the Chicago area were tuned to WMAQ-Channel 5 in the final minutes of the Blackhawks’ victory in the Stanley Cup Final Monday night.

The NBC-owned station registered a gigantic 49.2 rating in the last quarter-hour of the game for a total household viewership of 1.71 million, according to Nielsen Co. figures.

Among viewers between 25 and 54, NBC 5 had a 41.4 rating and 1.577 million viewership in the last quarter-hour.

An NBC 5 ratings analyst said it was the highest-rated Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final in 10 years. Earlier the Chicago Tribune’s Ed Sherman reported it was likely to set a record.

The station’s lead-in ratings translated into an enormous late-news audience as well. NBC 5’s delayed 10 p.m. newscast Monday averaged a 24.5 rating (853,000 households), compared with a 6.4 rating (227,100 households) for ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 and a 2.6 rating (89,000 households) for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2.