The Business of HockeyDiscuss the financial and business aspects of the NHL. Franchise sales, valuations, TV contracts, ratings, expansion, relocation, the CBA and work stoppage discussion goes here.
My guess is that 2010 was less than 2009 because Comcast and Directv couldn't agree upon a contract for Dtv to carry Versus (until later in the year). 2011 is down because there are significantly more games on Versus this season - thus giving the viewers more options to choose from.
CBC and Versus announce they'll show Islanders-Penguins game (so the world can watch Crosby back in action) rather than the games they previously planned. It will be interesting to see the ratings.
Sidney Crosby made his highly anticipated return to the NHL last night when his Pittsburgh Penguins took on the New York Islanders on a special Monday edition of CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA in front of an average audience of 1.2 million viewers.
Ratings data from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) show the game had a total English TV audience share of 14.1 per cent, reaching more than 5.7 million Canadians. Audience numbers peaked at 7:18 pm ET with 1.55 million viewers, as Crosby scored the game’s first goal at 5:24 of the first period on his first shot of the season.
Is the 15.3 the percentage of Pittsburgh and New York combined?
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in fairness Versus changed the game at the last minute.
Well they switched it hoping they would get higher ratings than the average game on Versus. They also knew the game would be blacked out in two cities. So none of those are a fair excuse for the disappointing ratings.
....according to numbers supplied to Usual Suspects by TSN, Sportsnet and CBC. TSN’s national games are bang-on the same number recorded this time last fall - averaging 709,000 viewers through the past weekend. CBC’s HNIC has a similar tale to tell. The early game of the doubleheader is up 9 per cent (2.145 million) from same time 2010 with the late game down 13 per cent to 931,000. The Hockey Tonight pregame is up 14 per cent over 2010 to 744,000.
Over at Sportsnet’s regional channels, the numbers are similar. The Toronto Maple Leafs (who started hotter than Ashton Kutcher’s e-mail) are at 109 per cent of last year’s similar ratings through the weekend. The Ottawa Senators (who started abysmally) are at 91 per cent of their number this time last year. Edmonton, another fast starter, sits at 119 per cent over last year’s rating, inconsistent Calgary sits at 86 per cent (but up in November) and Vancouver, with Stanley Cup Final hangover, is tracking at 98 per cent."
The NHL and NBC put a lot of marketing muscle behind the first-ever Thanksgiving Showdown, between promotion on Sunday Night Football, and a pretty decent commercial behind it, but in the end the numbers were pretty much the same as what I’ve been posting on this website for years now.
The game between the Red Wings and Bruins – a shootout win for Detroit – drew a 1.0 overnight. It is believed that no NHL game has aired on network television this early in the season since at least the 1970′s, and perhaps not ever, so there’s nothing really to compare it to. A February 13th Boston-Detroit game from last year drew an 0.9, while only two non-special (Hockey Day/Winter Classic) NBC telecasts from last year were better. The NHL and NBC looked to start a tradition here, and I suppose you have to start somewhere. The NHL On NBC returns on January 2nd with the Rangers and Flyers in the Winter Classic.
I just don't see what the **** is NBC's problem. That's such an awful time. It would've done much better at 3:00 PM or 4:00 PM...
(I understand how unlikely 4:00 because it interferes with local news and prime time lineup)
A couple of things. First off, there were a ton of other NHL games scheduled at 3 and 4. They were trying to make sure that games didn't compete with each other for viewers. One of those 4PM games was aired on NHL Network. Not to mention many NBC affiliates air local news in those timeslots and would be hesitant to give them up for hockey. I'm sure many stations would've pre-empted the game for news just because of money. Local news brings in the cash, hockey doesn't.
Secondly, putting the game on against a huge college football game on CBS wouldn't be too smart. It was better to avoid that and go against some lesser competition on ABC.
I hate to keep picking on Versus and their low ratings but its hard not to. They are an easy target. SportsBusinessJournal’s John Ourand has the latest NHL on Versus numbers -
Top NHL game on Versus last week (LA-StL) only drew 245K viewers on Tuesday night.
The article goes on to try to figure out why ratings are so low in the U.S..
A couple of things. First off, there were a ton of other NHL games scheduled at 3 and 4. They were trying to make sure that games didn't compete with each other for viewers. One of those 4PM games was aired on NHL Network. Not to mention many NBC affiliates air local news in those timeslots and would be hesitant to give them up for hockey. I'm sure many stations would've pre-empted the game for news just because of money. Local news brings in the cash, hockey doesn't.
Secondly, putting the game on against a huge college football game on CBS wouldn't be too smart. It was better to avoid that and go against some lesser competition on ABC.
Also, the black friday matinee is a Bruins tradition since 1990.
What they did not include in their promotion is that it is always followed by an 8pm Celtics game.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (November 30, 2011) — The Buffalo Sabres’ tilt with the Boston Bruins on Nov. 23 drew the highest television rating so far this season for telecasts on MSG. The divisional matchup posted a 12.1 rating and a 20 share regionally. Ratings for the telecast actually peaked at 14.9 during the shootout when Boston’s Benoit Pouliot beat Jhonas Enroth to seal a 4-3 victory for the Bruins.
Quote:
On average, MSG telecasts of Sabres games have earned an 8.81 rating regionally so far this season. The team posted the highest ratings in three years during the month October when telecasts drew an average rating of 8.3.
The list is probably too long to post here, but to sum up something I found interesting in the ratings, the Leafs often draw more regionally than TSN does for its national games. TSN gets around 500,000 viewers while Leafs regional games get 600 to 800,000 viewers. Anyone still wonder why the Leafs get so much airtime? The ratings pretty much demand it.
That's only Pittsburgh.
15.3 represents around 180.5k households in the Pittsburgh area.
the within city limits population of Pittsburgh is only 220k. If it hit 185k household that's a large portion of the metro area, which is 2.4 million. That easily works out to at least 500k viewers, which puts the national number near 700k viewers without any data from new York. 700k is what tsn averages, granted in a smaller country. But it's close to the same number, and that was Monday night football time.
the within city limits population of Pittsburgh is only 220k. If it hit 185k household that's a large portion of the metro area, which is 2.4 million. That easily works out to at least 500k viewers, which puts the national number near 700k viewers without any data from new York. 700k is what tsn averages, granted in a smaller country. But it's close to the same number, and that was Monday night football time.
The game averaged an astronomical overnight Nielsen rating of 15.36 on the Root Sports Pittsburgh cable network. It was the second-highest local rating for a regular-season game in team history, topped only by Mario Lemieux's comeback Dec. 27, 2000, which drew a 15.9 rating.
Ratings represent the percentage of TV households tuned to a particular program. There are about 1,160,820 TV households in the Pittsburgh market. An estimated 94.2 percent have cable or satellite.
The Penguins perennially lead all U.S.-based NHL teams in local ratings, and last year the club drew an 8.68. This game nearly doubled that. About 440,000 viewers tuned in as Crosby, idled for nearly a year because of effects from a concussion, had two goals and two assists in a 5-0 win over the New York Islanders at Consol Energy Center.
