NBC's NHL ratings up 8% this past weekend

All this bad talk about the NHL ratings on the decline yet when they are rising no threads - well here is some good news for once:

Via KuklasKorner via GlobeSports.
http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070129.wspt-truth-29/GSStory/GlobeSports/home

Also...I don't have the link handy but Versus ratings up are also up 6%...slow and steady in a positive direction is the name of the game as there will be no magic wand to cure the NHL's TV woes.

 

Nice to hear.

 

Any positive news is good news.

 

And, the bump came for a real hockey game, not the All-Star game. Any casual fans that tuned in, and there must have been some, saw real hockey. Keeping this particular weekend (no football) clear for real hockey, rather than putting on the ASG at this time was a smart move.

Plus, NBC's move from Saturday to Sunday is a good one. The NHL's ratings slide conicided, in part, with the move from Sundays to Saturdays.

 

Well, for those that saw the Avs-Wings game, they saw real hockey from one team anyway.

 

All-star games are meant to be fun, meant to show off skill, and gives the players a breather where they can just relax for one week during an 82 game season.

 

Exactly. Saturday's a day to catch up on all of the errands you've been putting off during the work week. Sunday's a good day to relax at home.

 

finally some good news about the NHL, but still, its not like it went up dramatically, so I wouldnt look at this as the turn around of the NHL's poor ratings.

 

Got to start somewhere.

 

yep, you do, but following a 76% ratings drop in the all-star game (and I know it was on VS, and it was an all-star game, 76% is 76%), I'd simply view this as an escaping ray of sunshine during a storm. Lets just hope this is the first of many ratings boosts.

 

But this is at least reasonably apples-to-apples.

 

Of equal interest is whether or not media outlets around the US will gleefully report this news with as much enthusiasm as they showed in jumping on the (skewed) ASG ratings drop.

 

I had a feeling that Sunday's game was going to do ok, probably because it was a black weekend for the most part - no football for the first time this season - and I really liked the time slot they had the games on, late in the afternoon, I hope they can keep it up.

 

I can give you the answer to that question and it will sound something like:


pindrops....

 

It was smart of the league and NBC to make this past Sunday one of their days because of the bye week for football.

 

smirking response

For proof that the media won't ever give the NHL a bit of "due" in anything, here's USA Today's smirking response to the NHL's Sunday ratings bump.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-01-30-tv-ratings_x.htm

 

Rediculous...and when the PGA's ratings drop its b/c Tiger wasn't in a playoff... Always the benefit of the doubt for anyone other than the NHL...

 

Small victories all...small victories.

 

As Mark Cuban points out, the NHL on NBC had higher ratings than NCAA basketball on CBS.

http://www.blogmaverick.com/

 

Does anyone have a media source for the college basketball number referenced in Cuban's blog? (Not doubting Cuban... I'd just like to have a non-blog outlet to be able to reference for the numbers.)

 

Cuban is so great, finally someone mentions the NHL in the right light. I wonder what the HNIC numbers are in terms of millions of North Americans, probaly blows the sunday NBA numbers out but the media here would never let anyone want to see if thats true. USATOday's smarmy " For the NHL to even be on NBC is a coup for the league".... response like NBC somehow got 1million eyeballs on sunday for nothing, ABC ( acutally Disney/ESPN) have to pay how much to the NBA just to get the 2.5 million eyeballs to watch their sport over the NHL. Yea those nitwits at NBC ar soooooo stupid.

 

I enjoy NBC's coverage of the NHL, much better than the ABC Disneyfest, the between the glass idea was brilliant as well as tracking the shifts of star players.

Versus I could give two ***** about until I can actually view their network without having to pay 15 dollars more for a heavily slanted eastern conference schedule.

 

the last all star game was on free tv, this one was on a network with a limited audience..Oh and I love the NHL going head to head with basketball especially the NBA, basketball fans are so disenchanted with the product because of all the sloppyness and blowouts, and on a sunday afternoon if a team trails by 20 at halftime a sports fan looks for another sport to watch.

 

I was glad that NBC didn't get the all-star game. The anthems, the crappy young stars game, the idiots who put together the skills comp etc... That was all crap. Versus shoddy production didn't help it either. So I believe 8% of hockey fans forgot what a quality broadcast looked like and decide to watch the NBC one to remind themselves.

This rating stuff doesn't mean anything until
1.) NBC gets more games.
2.) Versus gets in more homes.

 

Good news! Have to start somewhere. And the fact that it beat out college basketball is very encouraging!

NHL!