News Article: Playoff Viewership tanking

[FlyerNutter]

Bet cricket viewership has gone up though

Hockey is going to struggle either way moving forward. With the reported salary cap increase, who cares. They have the money.

 

[57special]

I was reading something the other day Rangers and Blackhawks viewership were unusually down this year. It actually caused MSG to go bankrupt in March. I believe this just has to do with finding a way to get their networks on a easier and cheaper way to stream.



You are right and This is a start. Everything televised on ESPN or the Espn 2 needs to be on +

Right now the cable model is dying a slow painful death and until it does and the streaming gets more simple and figured out, expect lower numbers.

Also the MLB app imo is the closest to being on the right track. ESPN + should follow their model. Even include NHL network in the package. Like MLB does with MLB network and they only charge 34 a month. Or 150 for the year.

Blackouts are the next thing that also need to go.

Chicago fans have nowhere to watch some of the games. The affected CBH, as well as the White Sox... Bulls, too, i think.

Having 5 Canadian teams play can only help the ratings up north.

 

[shello]

This isn’t the reason, but I just spent the entire regular season watching games on MAX and ESPN+, in fact I watched more games this year because of ESPN+ than I had in years.

But now suddenly barely any playoff games are on either platform? How does that make sense?

 

[Power Surge]

Bet cricket viewership has gone up though

Quick ESPN...

 

[Power Surge]

This isn’t the reason, but I just spent the entire regular season watching games on MAX and ESPN+, in fact I watched more games this year because of ESPN+ than I had in years.

But now suddenly barely any playoff games are on either platform? How does that make sense?

I personally think this is the number 1 reason along with piracy. Piracy numbers aren't counted.

 

[FlyerNutter]

Regarding paying for it, and a lost count of viewers through streamers.

No thanks. I will save my money, and illegally stream it. I’m not paying to be bombarded by propaganda advertising from companies constantly.

“Brought to you by”, the ads on the boards, the ice, etc.

No thanks. If you’re going to force me to watch that? I’m not paying a dime.

 

[ps241]

---

Viewership may be down by whatever metric companies from 60 years ago are using to measure, but fan obsession with viewership remains as high as ever.

How Sports TV Viewership Is Actually Measured (and why the formula keeps changing)

Today's newsletter explains how sports viewership numbers are calculated, including an examination of Nielsen's sample size and the amount of money they pay participating households each month.

open.substack.com

Rabbit hole alert: I found the above an interesting article on how Neilson is evolving their model for generating viewership data. Obviously a challenge but the article does address the complexity of data scraping in such a dynamic but lucrative field ("Its estimated that over $60 billion was spent on television advertising during sporting events last year")

No Pens

or Wings (lots of big hockey markets on the outside this playoff round)

 

[Fatass]

I'd be interested to know how having Boston, New York, Detroit and L.A. (X2) all competing in the NBA playoffs affects viewership. Do the local fans jump teams in their preferred sport, or sports in their markets?

Also the NBA got a full slate of game involving all teams , while the NHL had 3 Canadian teams playing among the 5 games, in the opening weekend of playoffs.

I’d be curious to know the NBA viewership on the US for the Final when the Raptors won compared to years when it was two US teams in the Final. I’m only guessing, but I’d think the US viewership was much lower with one of the two clubs in that Final being Canadian than when it’s two US teams.

 

[Nicko999]

Is it really down?
I wouldn't be surprised it's up if you take into account streams.

 

[landstuhltaylor]

I thought about paying for ESPN+. But then I didn't because it wasn't 100% clear which games were blacked out. I'm absolutely not paying for a service that doesn't give me access to the things it claims to carry, and I'm not going to pay to jump through hoops when I can do that for free.

 

[M88K]

Nobody should be surprised that viewership is down, considering some of the traditional markets are out and the difficulty of accessing and horrible broadcast quality of the product, especially ESPN.
Why pay for cable for a few weeks/months of games? I don't want or need 100 ad filled bullshit channels, I need 2 (ESPN and ESPN2)
I could pay for Sling or Fubo or YoutubeTV but again I don't want or need 100+ other channels, I just need those two. So I'm not going to spend $70-90 a month for the service to get them.
Since ESPN cannot be bothered to put ESPN/ESPN2 games on ESPN+ (Guessing broadcast contract restrictions) I canceled ESPN+ for the summer already.

It takes 30 seconds to find a quality stream of a game, and i don't have to give yet another company my personal/financial information to do it.


Then you have the game starts at 8:30. only to turn on that channel, and find the previous game still being played and that puck drop for the game you actually care about isn't until 8:55. Advertise the game starts at 8:55 then, not 8:30. I would venture a guess a lot of casuals check out with shit like that going on

 

[M88K]

I thought about paying for ESPN+. But then I didn't because it wasn't 100% clear which games were blacked out. I'm absolutely not paying for a service that doesn't give me access to the things it claims to carry, and I'm not going to pay to jump through hoops when I can do that for free.

ESPN+ blackouts only local market games, and National games
Where i live the local market is the Wild, so when the Stars play the Wild those games are blacked out, in additional any national broadcast games are also blacked out (NHL Network, TNT, ESPN), for those 3-4 games (vs the Wild) a year a stream is the route to go, for the 78-79 other games (minus the national networks) there's no issue.
I think on average i have to stream less than 10 regular season games a year

 

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

The one poster is right, Buffalonians are jaded by the Sabres and have quit on hockey

 

[landstuhltaylor]

ESPN+ blackouts only local market games, and National games
Where i live the local market is the Wild, so when the Stars play the Wild those games are blacked out, in additional any national broadcast games are also blacked out (NHL Network, TNT, ESPN), for those 3-4 games (vs the Wild) a year a stream is the route to go, for the 78-79 other games (minus the national networks) there's no issue.
I think on average i have to stream less than 10 regular season games a year

Those national blackouts are what I'm referring to. A lot of the playoff games are going to be on national broadcasts and therefore there is no real value in subscribing this time of year.

The rest of the year I just don't watch enough games to make it worth it. Eastern time zone and mountain time team makes that a hard sell to commit to. I was a subscriber ~15 years ago but I just can't do those late games consistently any more.

 

[kerrabria]

down 22% compared to last year.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Viewership Decline

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are experiencing a significant decline in viewership, with early games showing double-digit percentage drops compared to last year.

www.newsbreak.com

No Rangers, Bruins, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Flyers, Sharks, Canucks, or Penguins.

Panthers, Devils, Kings, and Avalanche are all competing with major market NBA teams.

Five Canadian teams this year.

 

[Romang67]

While some of the viewership probably is hidden behind illegal streams, I'd wager a lot of people facing the friction that is watching the playoffs compared to the regular season simply don't watch it.

 

[That Habs Fan]

Not only is no Rangers/Flyers/Bruins/Penguins a big hit to viewership, I know far more people who stream illegally (either through websites or ipTV) than I do people who watch through more traditional avenues. To be honest I only know one who does that, my 79 year old father.

 

[More 2004]

I pay extra for ESPN+ and then can't watch espn and espn 2 games.. sucks.

 

[thecupismine]

When I had ESPN+ last year while I lived in NY it was a pain in the ass to watch all the games.

In an age where it’s super easy to distribute the game, and you let greed and red tape squeeze every last dollar from the fans, it’s going to make people stream it illegally or just give up.

The market thing is legitimate too - not having the Rangers or Bruins in definitely hurts as well, as does seeing the same matchups over and over again. The league wanted to do the latter in hopes it would ignite bad blood between teams, but it hasn’t had that effect yet.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Not only is no Rangers/Flyers/Bruins/Penguins a big hit to viewership, I know far more people who stream illegally (either through websites or ipTV) than I do people who watch through more traditional avenues. To be honest I only know one who does that, my 79 year old father.

And any 'Kid' or young adult watching non illegally is just mooching on their parents cable

 

[Conbon]

I bet if they included the online streaming from the high seas the viewership is doing fine

 

[Saga of the Elk]

They had games on Easter Sunday, they had games that started at 10 and later on the east coast. Nobody is shocked by lower viewership -- less than a week in!

People bringing up the Bruins and Rangers is silly too. Hockey fans will watch the NHL playoffs regardless of who is there but the Celtics and Knicks are both in the playoffs and that will also have a negative impact on viewership.

 

[OVO16]

Is it tanking in the US? We hd a lot of Canadian teams make the playoffs and the big market teams didnt make it like they usually did (Boston, New York, etc..)

 

[Takeahnase]

If only they showed the Schenn parents 212 times instead of 209 times the ratings would be up. I mean I tuned in last year to hear the same Ryan and Charlie Lindgren story each and every game.

 

[BagHead]

I can't say I'm shocked. Watching the Wild this year has required multiple different subscriptions, and now they're starting games at 10pm. I'd sure love if my kids could be Wild fans, but we can't afford it, and it's waaaay past their bedtime. I'm a superfan and I've had trouble watching their games. Why the hell is a casual fan going to go out of their way to do so?

These issues are not unique to Minnesota. The league has an accessibility problem.