NHL TV ratings 2022/2023

[Reaser]

If this SCF was on ABC all that would change is instead of everyone saying it's the 4th worst SCF viewership since the 04/05 lockout, they'd say it's the 6th worst.

'Cable' is almost a cop-out, convenient explanation, when had it been on ABC it'd still be a weak SCF average viewership and possibly even look worse in terms of, "it did that bad on ABC!"

It wasn't TNT/cable, it was the matchup.

 

[Fenway]

Said this at the time of the deal. That little 1month and half celebration PR jog NHL did returning to ESPN might have felt good but it really killed their prospects with other networks. Remembered reports surfacing how NHL was kind of taken back that there wasn't more interest in their much publicized "B" package gee you think and Turner came out of nowhere with their offer so they really rescued things.

The biggest NHL regret was likely the touting of the "B" most people don't want to fight over left over scrap packages unless you're the NFL. They should have just called it our other prime rights or something. Bad PR move oh well.

Bettman was certain FOX would bid on the B package to beef up FS1 and FS2 but Jeff Zucker, the chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports bid more.

 

[Fenway]

Stanley Cup final game draws 2.1M+ viewers on CBC and Sportsnet National – brioux.tv

brioux.tv

 

[DaBadGuy7]

If this SCF was on ABC all that would change is instead of everyone saying it's the 4th worst SCF viewership since the 04/05 lockout, they'd say it's the 6th worst.

'Cable' is almost a cop-out, convenient explanation, when had it been on ABC it'd still be a weak SCF average viewership and possibly even look worse in terms of, "it did that bad on ABC!"

It wasn't TNT/cable, it was the matchup.

2025 is likely gonna have similar numbers unless it’s a 7 game series or one of the teams is an Original 6 US team or Buffalo. The reality is there aren’t many big US TV markets outside a few.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Thanks, assume that’s cable and not the streaming versions.

 

[Reaser]

2025 is likely gonna have similar numbers unless it’s a 7 game series or one of the teams is an Original 6 US team or Buffalo. The reality is there aren’t many big US TV markets outside a few.

It's matchup dependent.

VGK-FLA would have been bad on ABC this year. Similar "down xx% from last year" takes would abound.

Hence, going way too far pinning the # on cable when it more than that was a poor ratings/viewership matchup.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

It's matchup dependent.

VGK-FLA would have been bad on ABC this year. Similar "down xx% from last year" takes would abound.

Hence, going way too far pinning the # on cable when it more than that was a poor ratings/viewership matchup.

But that’s my point, there aren’t that many matchups that are going to get a great number exclusively on cable, that’s the reality of the situation. The 2025 number is likely gonna be similar or worse. For example, if it’s OTT-MIN, you think the number will do better than FLA-VGK.

 

[jkrdevil]

That is the NHL’s real trip up with splitting the rights (and why NBC low balled). It makes it very matchup dependent for the networks. If you have the rights to 7 cup finals you are probably going to have some good matchups that offset the bad matchups. If you are only getting 4 or 3 finals that makes it more likely that a bad roll of dice can hurt.

That said all of this is already priced into what the NHL gets from the rights holders. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this low matchup was still profitable for Turner/WBD.

 

[Reaser]

But that’s my point, there aren’t that many matchups that are going to get a great number exclusively on cable, that’s the reality of the situation. The 2025 number is likely gonna be similar or worse. For example, if it’s OTT-MIN, you think the number will do better than FLA-VGK.

OTT-MIN wouldn't do good on ABC, either! Just like this year FLA-VGK wouldn't have done good on ABC. It's not just matchup dependent for TNT. It applies to ABC, also.

FWIW, Top-4 (because ABC had 4 playoff games) non-SCF viewership games for Broadcast & Cable in 2023 playoffs:

-Cable-
TNT (BOS-FLA 1R G7) 3.095M
ESPN (SEA-DAL 2R G7) 2.746M
ESPN (NYR-NJD 1R G7) 2.045M
ESPN (SEA-DAL 2R G6) 2.042M

-Broadcast-
ABC (DAL-VGK WCF G5) 1.957M
ABC (NYR-NJD 1R G6) 1.932M
ABC (NYR-NJD 1R G3) 1.614M
ABC (DAL-VGK WCF G2) 1.616M

Zero games on ABC broke 2.0M these playoffs.
Ten (five excluding SCF) on cable (7 TNT, 3 ESPN) broke 2.0M on cable.

Matchups matter for ABC, too. Not some mythical creature where 5.0M would have been watching VGK-FLA on ABC this year. The number would have been bad on ABC, just like it was on TNT. It would have been a bigger number, but just as bad because it'd be measured against OTA. In addition it wouldn't come with the 'cable' explanation people are overusing. In reality, it was the matchup that was the problem, much more so than "cable."

 

[DaBadGuy7]

OTT-MIN wouldn't do good on ABC, either! Just like this year FLA-VGK wouldn't have done good on ABC. It's not just matchup dependent for TNT. It applies to ABC, also.

FWIW, Top-4 (because ABC had 4 playoff games) non-SCF viewership games for Broadcast & Cable in 2023 playoffs:

-Cable-
TNT (BOS-FLA 1R G7) 3.095M
ESPN (SEA-DAL 2R G7) 2.746M
ESPN (NYR-NJD 1R G7) 2.045M
ESPN (SEA-DAL 2R G6) 2.042M

-Broadcast-
ABC (DAL-VGK WCF G5) 1.957M
ABC (NYR-NJD 1R G6) 1.932M
ABC (NYR-NJD 1R G3) 1.614M
ABC (DAL-VGK WCF G2) 1.616M

Zero games on ABC broke 2.0M these playoffs.
Ten (five excluding SCF) on cable (7 TNT, 3 ESPN) broke 2.0M on cable.

Matchups matter for ABC, too. Not some mythical creature where 5.0M would have been watching VGK-FLA on ABC this year. The number would

Exactly, the only matchups are drawing a higher number on cable exclusively would involve NYR, BOS, DET, or CHI, that is a fact. No other matchup is drawing unless maybe involving WSH or PIT is getting a good number. There only so maybe matchups that will draw, so these numbers shouldn’t that surprising imo.

 

[Brodie]

If this SCF was on ABC all that would change is instead of everyone saying it's the 4th worst SCF viewership since the 04/05 lockout, they'd say it's the 6th worst.

'Cable' is almost a cop-out, convenient explanation, when had it been on ABC it'd still be a weak SCF average viewership and possibly even look worse in terms of, "it did that bad on ABC!"

It wasn't TNT/cable, it was the matchup.

absolutely, people are in denial about how market driven the league is and how poor of a market Florida in particular is... you are talking about a team who has played games in front of what Nielsen suggests are almost non-existent TV audiences

Let's be real, if Boston breezed through the playoffs and played Vegas we would be talking about some of the highest ratings since the lockout right now.

 

[ForumNamePending]

They doubled, not tripled the previous deal. Remember the digital rights previously held by ESPN+ (and still held by them) got rolled into the deal on top of what NBC had. Those were worth $100 million fore (and are probably worth $200 million now if you took it out of the ESPN part of the current deal).

Fair enough... But my broader point still stands. The NHL did fine on the American deal. Announcing the ESPN deal before the "B package" was signed wasn't some sort of blunder. Pretty sure the parties the NHL was negotiating with would have been able to figure out what the NHL had already hammered out with ESPN regardless of if it was made public.

I have to agree with @eddygee here, having 3 Cup Finals on cable in these deal with the continual shrinking cable audience wasn’t the best deal for the NHL. But taking money over reach and presence has been Bettman’s mo in terms of TV deals.

I dunno... I think for the next 5 years at least, having some SCFs on cable is fine. Hasn't the NCAA moved their big championships to cable? So it's not some unprecedented move.

In the specific case of this years final I don't think it being on a OTA network would have made a huge difference. It would have helped some, but as others have already said, the big "problem" was Vegas is a smallish market that drew not terrible, but not great viewership, and relatively few people in south Florida care that the Panthers exist.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Regardless of all the excuses being made, the number is awful. No way around it.

Let's hope the finals are on ABC next year so the numbers are better.

You dont have to hope, the finals alternate, so next year is going to be on ABC

 

[Bostonzamboni]

2025 is likely gonna have similar numbers unless it’s a 7 game series or one of the teams is an Original 6 US team or Buffalo. The reality is there aren’t many big US TV markets outside a few.

Or Pittsburgh, St. Louis. Minnesota, Philadelphia.

 

[Reaser]

Or Pittsburgh, St. Louis. Minnesota, Philadelphia.

If the line is the Panthers then you can add pretty much the entire league, even can start adding Canadian teams that would do more in/for U.S. ratings/viewership.

Can't remember how long ago, decade?, but I remember saying the Panthers were the Yotes of the East, in terms of ratings/viewership. Those two more than any others stay at the bottom. Even when the Panthers have been good, they offer nothing in ratings/viewership.

Always the same teams in the bottom group. Coyotes, Panthers. Check different years in the 21st century for local ratings/viewership and you'll see Phoenix/Arizona & Florida at/near the bottom.

Then you have the Ducks that are usually down there, sometimes last in ratings themselves, Devils a lot but pop-up and out here and there, as do the Isles and Kings. But that's for ratings and those teams is a lot due to market size. Their viewership number is better than their rating, though the Ducks can get bad there, too.

When it comes to ratings/viewership, "grow the game" doesn't work quite how people think it does. It's a lot more rare to see the Bolts in that bottom group then shoot up to the above average section than it is to see: "Panthers won the Presidents' Trophy last year and went to the Cup Final this year, hockey is popular in South Florida now!" ... No, their local ratings/viewership will still be bad in 2023/24, and again in 2024/25, and so on.

Just as the Coyotes could go on a miracle Panthers like run next year and ... no one will watch. Locally or nationally. Always the funniest -and it happened multiple times- when the Yotes made the playoffs and people would start hyping up their 100%+ increase in local TV ratings! Then you'd look at the details and they'd have gone from something like 5,000 HHs to 10,000 HHs.

 

[Fenway]

NBC walked away partly because they had lost their golden goose in Chicago and didn't see them becoming a factor for the 7 years of this contract.

The ratings in South Florida are embarrassing but not shocking given how bad the Panthers' regular season ratings are.

 

[cbcwpg]

Not TV specifically, but in regards to eyes on the product....

Dana White suggests the NHL has “old, dumb f**king people” in their marketing department | BJPenn.com

Dana White went in on the NHL for its distain about having the NELK Boys become partners in a potential marketing plan.

www.bjpenn.com

 

[Melrose Munch]

Miami is also a bad sports market, let's be clear. The same issue has happened with the other teams.

 

[Nicky Santoro]

I think the most disappointing rating of all was Vegas locally doing only 14.58. That's horrible. For a deciding SC win at home and their 1st cup ever, 14.58 is so bad. Even Miami, who has the worst fans drew more than that and they were down 3-1 in the series.

14.58 is so bad considering that if this game was played in BOS, it'd have gotten 39.6.. and if it was played in PIT or BUF, around 44.7. A week 7 NFL game gets between 27.0-44.0..

I was expecting Vegas to get around 27.5. 14.58 is not good at all. Denver got 21.58 for their gm 5 deciding game. 14.58 is unacceptable for a cup winning game.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Like I said earlier. The SCF were bad but they're not an outlier in the sports media world.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I think the most disappointing rating of all was Vegas locally doing only 14.58. That's horrible. For a deciding SC win at home and their 1st cup ever, 14.58 is so bad. Even Miami, who has the worst fans drew more than that and they were down 3-1 in the series.

14.58 is so bad considering that if this game was played in BOS, it'd have gotten 39.6.. and if it was played in PIT or BUF, around 44.7. A week 7 NFL game gets between 27.0-44.0..

I was expecting Vegas to get around 27.5. 14.58 is not good at all. Denver got 21.58 for their gm 5 deciding game. 14.58 is unacceptable for a cup winning game.

Stanley Cup Final Most-Watched in Three Years

Putting a bow on 2018 Stanley Cup Final ratings, the Capitals-Golden Knights series was the most-watched championship series in three years.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Las Vegas had 23.0 when they played Caps back in 2018. That of course, was on NBC, mostly.

Being on cable definitely played a factor.

 

[Joe from Maine]

Stanley Cup Final Most-Watched in Three Years

Putting a bow on 2018 Stanley Cup Final ratings, the Capitals-Golden Knights series was the most-watched championship series in three years.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Las Vegas had 23.0 when they played Caps back in 2018. That of course, was on NBC, mostly.

Being on cable definitely played a factor.

I believe the 14.58 was the average for 5 games. Game 5 was probably 20 plus as a guess.

 

[Brodie]

That Vegas rating isn't very disappointing for cable, imo. Y'all need to manage your expectations

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Or Pittsburgh, St. Louis. Minnesota, Philadelphia.

Yeah all the revisionist hot takes in here are ridiculous. There are plenty of US cities that draw well.


Hell, Vegas averaged a 23.3 rating during the 2018 finals.


Oh but they averaged a 14.5 when it was in cable against an outmanned 8th seed from a bad sports city.


Clearly all Sunbelt teams are terrible tv draws

 

[Fenway]

The one takeaway is South Florida is a weak market for the NHL.