NHL/hockey TV ratings 2024-25

[Greatzsky 99]

Those MLS CUP numbers are pathetic.

In the US how big is apple TV? I just checked numer is Sweden, here it is midget when it comes to streaming it is in 10th place, it got 1% !! of the numbers of streams in the top ten.

 

[Coinneach]

NHL TV ratings 2024/25
(via @jheaps4)

October:

Blues-Kraken: 348k (ESPN)
Bruins-Panthers: 790k (ESPN, non-exclusive)
Blackhawks-Utah: 522k (ESPN)
Rangers-Penguins: 467k (TNT+truTV)
Avalanche-Golden Knights 315k (TNT+truTV)
Wild-Blues: 417k (ESPN)
Flyers-Oilers: 333k (ESPN)
Sabres-Penguins: 512k (TNT+truTV)
Bruins-Avalanche: 340k (TNT+truTV)
Capitals-Flyers: 477k (ESPN)
Avalanche-Kraken: 422k (ESPN)
Kings-Golden Knights: 245k (ESPN)
Flyers-Capitals: 410k (TNT+truTV)
Rangers-Capitals: 412k (ESPN)
Kings-Sharks: 186k (ESPN)
Golden Knights-Kings: 109k (TNT+truTV)

November:

Red Wings-Blackhawks: 411k (TNT+truTV)
Red Wings-Penguins: 354k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Kings-Avalanche 231k (TNT+truTV)
Hurricanes-Flyers: 237k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Predators-Kraken: 155k (TNT+truTV)
Capitals-Lightning: 268k (TNT)
Golden Knights-Avalanche: 207k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Penguins-Bruins: 483k (TNT+truTV)
Avalanche-Stars: 177k (TNT+truTV)

December:

Bruins-Blackhawks: 487k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Stars-Kings: 232k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Rangers-Sabres 478k (TNT+truTV)
Flyers-Red Wings 418k (TNT+truTV)
Panthers-Wild 161k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Blackhawks-Sabres: 245k (ESPN2)
Avalanche-Utah: 258k (ESPN2)
Stars-Blackhawks: 217k (ESPN)
Blues-Blackhawks: 920k (Winter Classic, TNT+truTV)

 

[Greatzsky 99]

NHL TV ratings 2024/25
(via @jheaps4)

October:

Blues-Kraken: 348k (ESPN)
Bruins-Panthers: 790k (ESPN, non-exclusive)
Blackhawks-Utah: 522k (ESPN)
Rangers-Penguins: 467k (TNT+truTV)
Avalanche-Golden Knights 315k (TNT+truTV)
Wild-Blues: 417k (ESPN)
Flyers-Oilers: 333k (ESPN)
Sabres-Penguins: 512k (TNT+truTV)
Bruins-Avalanche: 340k (TNT+truTV)
Capitals-Flyers: 477k (ESPN)
Avalanche-Kraken: 422k (ESPN)
Kings-Golden Knights: 245k (ESPN)
Flyers-Capitals: 410k (TNT+truTV)
Rangers-Capitals: 412k (ESPN)
Kings-Sharks: 186k (ESPN)
Golden Knights-Kings: 109k (TNT+truTV)

November:

Red Wings-Blackhawks: 411k (TNT+truTV)
Red Wings-Penguins: 354k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Kings-Avalanche 231k (TNT+truTV)
Hurricanes-Flyers: 237k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Predators-Kraken: 155k (TNT+truTV)
Capitals-Lightning: 268k (TNT)
Golden Knights-Avalanche: 207k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Penguins-Bruins: 483k (TNT+truTV)
Avalanche-Stars: 177k (TNT+truTV)

December:

Bruins-Blackhawks: 487k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Stars-Kings: 232k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Rangers-Sabres 478k (TNT+truTV)
Flyers-Red Wings 418k (TNT+truTV)
Panthers-Wild 161k (TNT, non-exclusive)
Blackhawks-Sabres: 245k (ESPN2)
Avalanche-Utah: 258k (ESPN2)
Stars-Blackhawks: 217k (ESPN)

I have tried to make average of this list(bear with me if i made some fault)
I included 2 ESPN2 games and one Non-exclusive in ESPN avg(rounded to nearest k)
ESPN 13 g avg 375k

TNT (NEX) 6 g avg 259k

TNT 14 g avg 350k TNT total 20 g avg 323k

Total 33 g avg 343k

ps. writing pretty and after the rules is not my cup of tea

 

[Reaser]

-Winter Classic on TNT avg viewership Tuesday-

Blues-Blackhawks: 920k (TNT & truTV)

Least-viewed Winter Classic to-date.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

An all streaming deal could work but not an all in one streaming service deal or at least that's what the MLS is showing thus far we'll see after the World Cup and if Messi ever plays in the MLS Cup game how the numbers move.

-Winter Classic on TNT avg viewership Tuesday-

Blues-Blackhawks: 920k (TNT & truTV)

Least-viewed Winter Classic to-date.

If there only was one outdoor game every year, i think the numbers wouldnt dropped so much.
it doesnt feel like a gimmick and extraordinary anymore,

 

[Reaser]

And whats peoples prediction on WinterClassic? i feel a bit pessimistic, i guess under 1 mil, 886k

You weren't too far off. Under 1.0M correct, at least.

Lot of excuses and explanations, valid or otherwise, for the Winter Classic number but under 1.0M is a blow no matter how you slice it.

 

[S E P H]

You weren't too far off. Under 1.0M correct, at least.

Lot of excuses and explanations, valid or otherwise, for the Winter Classic number but under 1.0M is a blow no matter how you slice it.

I think the problem with this year's one is they were obviously doing it for the Bedard factor, not realising or caring that both teams suck. Chicago's bandwagon is long gone and St. Louis must be close to that due to being mediocre since 2019. Then factor in that Bedard has immensely struggled this season, killing a lot of the hype that was started last season. Those might sound like excuses, but the NHL really dropped it by not choosing good teams and going after the Bedard hype.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

Yeah im actually sorry i was

You weren't too far off. Under 1.0M correct, at least.

Lot of excuses and explanations, valid or otherwise, for the Winter Classic number but under 1.0M is a blow no matter how you slice it.

Yeah im actually sorry i was wrong, but i think its sometimes easy to not see Northern America as a whole, it is actually a 2 country league, which NBA and MLB is not, although they have one team up there. Then NHL is actually pretty big and doing well.

Its gonna be interesting to see the new Canada TV deal, since if im not mistaken i heard Bettman say the exclusive negotiation window for Rogers started 1 January.

And in USA considering that NBA got 7 billion a year in US, and from my count the last years NHL has 30 procent of what NBA has in RS and PO views, NHL should be looking at minimum 1.5 billion a year in US, or am i missing some parameters here from the ends of the earth?

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

The NHL has made everything in their power to make the Winter Classic like another regular season game the numbers make sense.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

-Winter Classic on TNT avg viewership Tuesday-

Blues-Blackhawks: 920k (TNT & truTV)

Least-viewed Winter Classic to-date.

NHL needs to think of unique venues and/or locations. Something like that Lake Tahoe event that did during the pandemic worked well (and ratings showed that). Doing Wrigley Field again showcasing a bad Blackhawks team was a tough sell to begin with.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Yeah im actually sorry i was

Yeah im actually sorry i was wrong, but i think its sometimes easy to not see Northern America as a whole, it is actually a 2 country league, which NBA and MLB is not, although they have one team up there. Then NHL is actually pretty big and doing well.

Its gonna be interesting to see the new Canada TV deal, since if im not mistaken i heard Bettman say the exclusive negotiation window for Rogers started 1 January.

And in USA considering that NBA got 7 billion a year in US, and from my count the last years NHL has 30 procent of what NBA has in RS and PO views, NHL should be looking at minimum 1.5 billion a year in US, or am i missing some parameters here from the ends of the earth?

It will probably at least 2 billion a year in the next TV deal. I suspect NHL will have a 3rd package like the NBA did, but that’s just a guess.

 

[Golden_Jet]

, and from my count the last years NHL has 30 procent of what NBA has in RS and PO views,

do you have a link to that data

 

[jkrdevil]

Stop putting bad teams in these games! I know Chicago is a big market and Bedard is supposed to be a star, but none of that matters if the team itself isn’t good. No matter how good a player is they can’t become a “star” until the team is good. No one is going to care about them (see Mike Trout in baseball). And if the team isn’t good the local market isn’t going to care either.

The move the cable and outdoor game saturation has also killed overall interest in it, but that can be overcome by simply putting good teams in these things.

Anyways onto Detroit vs Columbus!

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Hopefully proof that just hammering the Hawks button when the team utterly stinks doesn't print money anymore.

This is a team that, at most, deserves a pat on the back for still drawing well despite stinking for a while and not having a viable local tv option anymore due to management incompetence. In no way should the Hawks be getting any kind of marquee matchup.

 

[Reaser]

Through the Winter Classic each season here's how many total games of 1.0M+ and/or 500k+ each season has done Opening night-through-Winter Classic during this rights deal:

-2024/25-
1.0M+: 0 games
500k+: 4 games

-2023/24-
1.0M+: 2 games
500k+: 15 games

-2022/23-
1.0M+: 1 game
500k+: 9 games

-2021/22-
1.0M+: 2 games
500k+: 8 games

 

[Greatzsky 99]

do you have a link to that data

NBA regular season viewers 2024 | Statista

What is the average viewership of the NBA during the regular season? During the 2023/24 season, the average number of viewers for each game totaled over 1.5m.

www.statista.com

1.56 for NBA

Cable drives most-watched NHL season in eight years

Fueled by a big increase on ESPN, the NHL regular season was the most-watched in eight years -- and the most-watched on cable in 30.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

504k for NHL, it was actually 32.3 procent when i calculated, so it was a decent guess

NBA playoffs average TV viewership down 12% to 4.53m - SportsPro

The Boston Celtics’ five-game Finals series victory over the Dallas Mavericks averaged 11.3 million viewers.

www.sportspro.com

PO 4.53 for NBA

NHL playoff viewership climbs while NBA sees decline

NHL playoff viewership surged while NBA postseason viewership declined this spring.

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

!! This link does not, if your not subscribing or logged in tell the number, but on the google
search the numbers show, i screenshot that and attached it.

PO 1.54 for NHL, which translates to 34 procent, so in reality it was not 30 procent last year, but 1/3

 

[Greatzsky 99]

do you have a link to that data

This was just a small sample, last year, how its been the last 5 to 10 years say. Maybe someone has
some data, i dont have the time or energy to search that out(for now)

 

[gattaca]

Yeah im actually sorry i was

Yeah im actually sorry i was wrong, but i think its sometimes easy to not see Northern America as a whole, it is actually a 2 country league, which NBA and MLB is not, although they have one team up there. Then NHL is actually pretty big and doing well.

Its gonna be interesting to see the new Canada TV deal, since if im not mistaken i heard Bettman say the exclusive negotiation window for Rogers started 1 January.

And in USA considering that NBA got 7 billion a year in US, and from my count the last years NHL has 30 procent of what NBA has in RS and PO views, NHL should be looking at minimum 1.5 billion a year in US, or am i missing some parameters here from the ends of the earth?

NBA offered 30%+ more national games. Annual growth rate of the deal still drops by 2% compared to current deal.

They had to do it because at the local team level, they will be getting less media revenue as teams move from RSN to linear tv channels and/or their own streaming platform. So, net/net, there isn't a big bump as commonly believed.

To get a third package for the NHL, they'll need to pry away some of the 1000+ games shown on ESPN+. NHL also has only largely Monday & Friday night windows to offer unless ABC/TNT give up some of the weekends.

For your Apple TV+ question, it also has minor viewing share in the US. Neilsen Gauge for November 2024 shows Apple TV+ isn't in the top 11 streaming platforms. So, share is less than 0.9%.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

NBA offered 30%+ more national games. Annual growth rate of the deal still drops by 2% compared to current deal.

They had to do it because at the local team level, they will be getting less media revenue as teams move from RSN to linear tv channels and/or their own streaming platform. So, net/net, there isn't a big bump as commonly believed.

To get a third package for the NHL, they'll need to pry away some of the 1000+ games shown on ESPN+. NHL also has only largely Monday & Friday night windows to offer unless ABC/TNT give up some of the weekends.

For your Apple TV+ question, it also has minor viewing share in the US. Neilsen Gauge for November 2024 shows Apple TV+ isn't in the top 11 streaming platforms. So, share is less than 0.9%.

Nice reply, thanks for insights, and i checked inflation from 2014 to 2024, 2.4 billion 2014 is 3.2 billion in 2024, for example

 

[Reaser]

For your Apple TV+ question, it also has minor viewing share in the US. Neilsen Gauge for November 2024 shows Apple TV+ isn't in the top 11 streaming platforms. So, share is less than 0.9%.

0.26% for Apple TV+