NHL/hockey TV ratings 2024-25

[S E P H]

Baseball can be dying, but still get good viewership. The difference between this postseason compared to others is that the Dodgers and Yankees are making World Series Final pushes, which is contributing to the increased ratings. Those two teams are two of the biggest markets when it comes to baseball. With that said, baseball does have a serious attendance problem in places, and that has continued for at least the last half-decade. I write this not hating it by any means, if it survives then good on them considering I've read articles saying it has been dying for the last decade. Nonetheless, youth participation has been slowly declining from the reports I've read.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Baseball can be dying, but still get good viewership. The difference between this postseason compared to others is that the Dodgers and Yankees are making World Series Final pushes, which is contributing to the increased ratings. Those two teams are two of the biggest markets when it comes to baseball. With that said, baseball does have a serious attendance problem in places, and that has continued for at least the last half-decade. I write this not hating it by any means, if it survives then good on them considering I've read articles saying it has been dying for the last decade. Nonetheless, youth participation has been slowly declining from the reports I've read.

Idk if you noticed this, but with the lack of an actual salary cap, the World Series is usually between two large markets. A CS game without those teams still gets 4.5-5.5 million viewers anyway. Their contribution is overblown. No sport is as market dependent as hockey is

 

[joelef]

A regular season NHL game getting beat by a winner take-all WNBA playoff game isn't news. It speaks to the WNBA's surge (good for them) more than anything to do with the NHL IMO.

No it’s embarrassing for the nhl

 

[S E P H]

Idk if you noticed this, but with the lack of an actual salary cap, the World Series is usually between two large markets. A CS game without those teams still gets 4.5-5.5 million viewers anyway. Their contribution is overblown. No sport is as market dependent as hockey is

That probably comes down to the grassroots level. More Americans simply play basketball, baseball, and throwball more than hockey growing up. It makes perfect sense why they would get more viewers, but I know a ton of casual fans in my life who only watch the World Series. With that said, that doesn't mean the sport doesn't have problems. Again, attendance has been a concern for the past five or so years, but they might be making up for it concerning their telly contract.

 

[joelef]

That probably comes down to the grassroots level. More Americans simply play basketball, baseball, and throwball more than hockey growing up. It makes perfect sense why they would get more viewers, but I know a ton of casual fans in my life who only watch the World Series. With that said, that doesn't mean the sport doesn't have problems. Again, attendance has been a concern for the past five or so years, but they might be making up for it concerning their telly contract.

It’s come down to marketing and cultural revelance

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

No it’s embarrassing for the nhl

Not sure it should be a surprise. The WNBA Finals atm are going for pretty much their best numbers ever under the best of five format even with the NY team having their games going at the same time than Mets, Yankees and some times even both postseason games. Also game 5 will be at the same time than the Jets on SNF so the point is clear their audience is way different than the other leagues thus the numbers they can reach is harder for the other leagues to catch them.

 

[Jets4Life]

How about we use verifiable facts instead of feelings. The whole "baseball is dying" thing was moreso about how it used to be just as if not more popular than football, but is now a solid 3rd behind the NFL and NBA. There is still a massive gap from the MLB to anything else though

True for n ow...however, you have to admit that back in the 1980s, the idea of the NBA ever overtaking the MLB was thought to be ludicrous. 10 years later, it was within striking distance from the MLB, and has surpassed it. Obviously the NHL has a ways to go before catching the MLB, but never say never.

Last year, the MLB did an average of 4.7, a drop of over 80% from their peak years (1970s-1986).

Sure. The massive drop off from the NHL opening night games from last year is the concern though, especially if our stance is that WNBA fans are a much different demographic then NHL fans.

If there isnt that much crossover, then where did the fans go?

We are 4 games into the season. I wouldn't read too much into ratings until at least the end of the year.

 

[Jets4Life]

Baseball can be dying, but still get good viewership. The difference between this postseason compared to others is that the Dodgers and Yankees are making World Series Final pushes, which is contributing to the increased ratings. Those two teams are two of the biggest markets when it comes to baseball. With that said, baseball does have a serious attendance problem in places, and that has continued for at least the last half-decade. I write this not hating it by any means, if it survives then good on them considering I've read articles saying it has been dying for the last decade. Nonetheless, youth participation has been slowly declining from the reports I've read.

I would actually like to see a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, just for the sake of comparison. In 1978, peak viewership for World Series, the teams did a 33.2 average, with over 44 million Americans tuning in. Today, the same series would be lucky to attract 1/3 of that number.

 

[Joe from Maine]

Does it really matter? It's simply numbers. Opening night this year was lower than last year, fact. WNBA got more viewers than NHL, fact. You can try to spin it however you want, that's just the facts.

Since some of you are interested in the just the facts. The NHL playoffs averaged 1.54 million viewers for over 80 games in the US last year (half were none exclusive to the numbers are actually a little higher). The WNBA finals are averaging much less than that with just over 1 million. NHL Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.2 million in the US (about 400% higher). The WNBA premier event can't match just an average NHL playoff game. In fairness the WNBA did have some very good regular season numbers. Example: NBA TV has a WNBA game with Indianapolis that beat ALL NBA games on NBA TV for the entire regular season. Didn't seem to affect the NBA new contact and no one on this forum is accusing the NBA of falling behind the WNBA or being less popular. These are some facts without to much spin.

 

[Jets4Life]

Rogers' treatment of their Monday night national window is a microcosm of how this NHL right deal has gone for them. They initially create Hometown Hockey airing on Sundays on OTA City TV with all kinds of hoopla with Ron McLean travelling to a different site every week with concerts, big outdoor crowds etc. Then it got taken off City TV and put on Sportsnet. Then it got moved to Mondays, lasted for a year, got cancelled and replaced with just a plain jane Monday Night national game, which lasted for two seasons and then Rogers was just like screw it and sold that National window away to Amazon.

I really hope CBC reclaims the rights to most NHL games in 2026. The Rogers telecasts are far inferior to what the CBC used to do.

 

[Coinneach]

NHL TV ratings 2024/25

October:

Blues-Kraken: 348k (ESPN)
Bruins-Panthers: 790k (ESPN, non-exclusive)
Blackhawks-Utah: 522k (ESPN)
Rangers-Penguins: 467k (TNT)
Avalanche-Golden Knights 315k (TNT)
Wild-Blues: 417k (ESPN)
Flyers-Oilers: 333k (ESPN)
Sabres-Penguins: 512k (TNT)
Bruins-Avalanche: 340k (TNT)

 

[joelef]

Since some of you are interested in the just the facts. The NHL playoffs averaged 1.54 million viewers for over 80 games in the US last year (half were none exclusive to the numbers are actually a little higher). The WNBA finals are averaging much less than that with just over 1 million. NHL Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.2 million in the US (about 400% higher). The WNBA premier event can't match just an average NHL playoff game. In fairness the WNBA did have some very good regular season numbers. Example: NBA TV has a WNBA game with Indianapolis that beat ALL NBA games on NBA TV for the entire regular season. Didn't seem to affect the NBA new contact and no one on this forum is accusing the NBA of falling behind the WNBA or being less popular. These are some facts without to much spin.

A wnba game did beat out a playoff last year . One with o6 team no less

 

[joelef]

Since some of you are interested in the just the facts. The NHL playoffs averaged 1.54 million viewers for over 80 games in the US last year (half were none exclusive to the numbers are actually a little higher). The WNBA finals are averaging much less than that with just over 1 million. NHL Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.2 million in the US (about 400% higher). The WNBA premier event can't match just an average NHL playoff game. In fairness the WNBA did have some very good regular season numbers. Example: NBA TV has a WNBA game with Indianapolis that beat ALL NBA games on NBA TV for the entire regular season. Didn't seem to affect the NBA new contact and no one on this forum is accusing the NBA of falling behind the WNBA or being less popular. These are some facts without to much spin.

NHL , a league supposedly part of the major 4, having there opening games get beaten out by the wnba is absolutely embarrassing no matter how you spin it.

 

[Golden_Jet]

A wnba game did beat out a playoff last year . One with o6 team no less

Ya you’ve mentioned it a 100x,

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

A wnba game did beat out a playoff last year . One with o6 team no less

You could say the same thing for a couple of NBA Playoffs games hell even for at least one MLB Playoffs game this year...