News Article: Playoff Viewership tanking

[awegrzyn]

You assumed that eliminating a metro area with 20 million people would produce more people?

No one here can take a joke.

 

[MrLunatik]

No Shit.

More Canadian teams, fewer big market US teams, more cord cutters

Hell the 100-200k they are down in the US, could almost all be cable cutters.

Edit: just to add to my final point, cable subs have be declining 4.5-5% per year each of the last 4 years (and 4.9-5% the last 3)... this means the drop off from 2023-2024 was about 3.5 million viewers

 

[awegrzyn]

Easier to fool? That’s a red flag take.

Easier to fool? That’s a red flag take.

NBA obviously knows how to make their game easier to find. NHL took a position to maximize TV contracts by splitting it up amongst a bunch of different providers. It’s certainly a contributing factor in fewer total eyeballs. Unclear, honestly, if it’s a bad monetary strategy.

What's a a red flag take? What's a red flag when you confront facts?
Pretty sure hockey fans would have highest IQ on average out of the major sports. It's a niche sport.
Also, don't read red flag takes in the future if they bother you.

 

[BB79]

Edit: just to add to my final point, cable subs have be declining 4.5-5% per year each of the last 4 years (and 4.9-5% the last 3)... this means the drop off from 2023-2024 was about 3.5 million viewers

I'm surprised it's taken this long. I sliced the cable in 2012 and haven't looked back. Back then it was $100/month, 1,000 channels and nothing to watch but mostly ads. I dread to think what they charge now.

 

[Summer Rose]

I'm surprised it's taken this long. I sliced the cable in 2012 and haven't looked back. Back then it was $100/month, 1,000 channels and nothing to watch but mostly ads. I dread to think what they charge now.

We were up to something like $170 a month when we finally cut the cord in the summer of 2021. That was with DirecTV. Really, really, really bad value for the money when all we used it for was to watch Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Rays games.

My dad still has I think Dish Network in the Phoenix area. Not sure what he pays. Obviously, being my dad, he's much older than me, and is of a generation conditioned to kind of think that some form of traditional pay television is just an ubiquitous thing you pay for regardless of whether you like it or not. As far as I know, he still watches TV all the time at least, so he might actually be getting decent value for the money. As I posted in another thread (or maybe this thread), he's one of those older people who gets most of his information by watching TV, and doesn't think to look things up on the internet like I do. The topic at hand that I posted about people like him is that he'll find out when the next game of a team or competition he wants to watch by watching TV and seeing it advertised on it.

Now we can pay $20 a month for FDSun for the Bolts and Rays, and I have ESPN+ which is something like $15 so I can watch most Utah games. Much better, but we get screwed over when they're on a nationally exclusive broadcast. I got YouTube TV for the playoffs this year, which is $84 per month, but I can cancel it once the playoffs are over. I'm not going to keep it for the few occasions when the Bolts, Rays, or Utah are on a national-only broadcast.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

The NHL would be well served to encourage HOCKEY fans, not just fans of the local team. Instead they actively cultivate an attitude that if it happens anywhere else it's complete trash.

 

[MoneyManny]

Easier to fool? That’s a red flag take.


What's a a red flag take? What's a red flag when you confront facts?
Pretty sure hockey fans would have highest IQ on average out of the major sports. It's a niche sport.
Also, don't read red flag takes in the future if they bother you.

Lol why the hell would hockey fans have higher IQ than fans of other sports? That take is wild.

 

[MoneyManny]

I was coming in here to say this. I bet viewership isn't down at all, people have just had enough of the NHL and their network allies and are finding other ways to watch. This league just never learns.

I'd like to see the view numbers for the top pirate streams.

This thread feels like someone that assumed people stopped consuming music by looking at the industry's sales numbers after Napster became popular.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I'd like to see the view numbers for the top pirate streams.

This thread feels like someone that assumed people stopped consuming music by looking at the industry's sales numbers after Napster became popular.

I personally pay for cable, mostly because those pirate boxes become a part-time job but it is infuriating how often games are blacked out, for instance, when I travel out-of-province. Why? Don't the advertisers get the same money regardless of where I am?

And your Napster analogy is perfect. The recording industry fought tooth and nail against music downloads, even sending out $3,500 lawsuits to random kids to try to preserve their antiquated retail model. Now they make WAY more money from streaming because they finally dragged themselves into the 21st century. NHL has to wake up and stop fighting reality and give us better options and it will be better for them too.

 

[MoneyManny]

I personally pay for cable, mostly because those pirate boxes become a part-time job but it is infuriating how often games are blacked out, for instance, when I travel out-of-province. Why? Don't the advertisers get the same money regardless of where I am?

And your Napster analogy is perfect. The recording industry fought tooth and nail against music downloads, even sending out $3,500 lawsuits to random kids to try to preserve their antiquated retail model. Now they make WAY more money from streaming because they finally dragged themselves into the 21st century. NHL has to wake up and stop fighting reality and give us better options and it will be better for them too.

I received threatening letters from Metallica and Dr Dre back then personally, it felt kinda surreal as a Canadian teenager lol.