RATINGS RAT RACE: NBC’s Stanley Cup Final Game 1 Scores Night’s Biggest Number

NBC led Wednesday among broadcasters with Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final (1.7/6) in which the Los Angeles Kings turned a two-goal deficit against the New York Rangers into a 3-2 overtime win. Even so, the game was down 29% compared to last year’s fast nationals (2.4/7 with Boston-Chicago). Fox (1.5/5) followed for the night, leading ABC (1.2/4), CBS (1.0/3) and the CW (0.5/2). But CBS logged the night’s largest crowd  — 5.595 million viewers — and Fox followed with 4.985 million, besting NBC’s 4.530 million, ABC’s 4.849 milion, and the CW’s 1.510 million. CBS did so with reruns of Undercover Boss (4.853 million, 1.0/4), Criminal Minds (6.040 million, 1.1/4), and CSI (5.893 million, 1.0/3).

Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance (1.5/5) was the night’s top-rated entertainment program – down a tenth from last week’s premiere. But Fox noted overall TV usage was down 5% from 8-10 PM last night, compared to previous Wednesday. That said, ABC’s Modern Family repeat (1.5/4) matched Dance in the demo ratings – and grew 7% week-to-week.  At 10 PM, ABC’s Motive built to season highs, growing week to week by 24% in overall audience (5.1 million vs. 4.1 million), and 11% in the adults 18-49 demo (1.0/3 vs. 0.9/3).