2018-19 NHL TV ratings

[Anisimovs AK]

Why do we still have people comparing ratings for a sport that has 16 tv windows all season to sports with 82 or 162?

 

[USAUSA1]

Why do we still have people comparing ratings for a sport that has 16 tv windows all season to sports with 82 or 162?

Exactly

 

[gordie]

Why do we still have people comparing ratings for a sport that has 16 tv windows all season to sports with 82 or 162?

Exactly. We will never have NHL playoffs going up against late season NFL games, so these ratings comparisons at this time of year are for people with nothing better to do with their time.

 

[Coinneach]

And they said hockey would never work in the desert!

The 3.4 average would have put the Golden Knights in 4th place in the entire NHL last season, and that does not include the games which were played on NBCSN, which routinely score higher than 3.4.

Opening night this season remains the highest ever rated regular season game in Las Vegas history at 7.7. The 11/14 home game against the Ducks, which also aired on NBCSN pulled a 5.1 and the Stanley Cup Final rematch on 10/10 drew a 4.1.

Vegas Golden Knights TV Ratings Soar - SinBin.vegas

 

[jkrdevil]

I guess this should go here. NBCSN surpasses ESPN2 as the second highest rated sports network by average daytime and prime time audiences.

ESPN2 loses No. 2 position among sports nets for first time in 25 years

Mostly Olympics driven, but the cup final and game 7 of the east final given as a reason. NBCSN also finished ahead of FS1 which had some World Cup games and NLCS this year.

 

[Coinneach]

OT:
FOX’s coverage of the 2018 MLS Cup Final between Atlanta United and Portland Timbers averaged 1.5 million viewers on the over-the-air network, an increase of 10% compared to the last time a MLS final was televised on the same network two years ago when Seattle defeated Toronto FC (best viewership for a MLS Cup Final since 2002).
....
For the 2018 regular season, viewing numbers were down on both ESPN and FS1.
...
Viewership for the Western Conference Final was down almost 10% dropping from 326,000 average viewers in 2017 to 295,000 average viewers in 2018. The Eastern Conference Final was down 7% and 21,000 viewers from the 2017 edition.
.....
2018 MLS Cup Final averaged 193,000 viewers on UniMas. That's down from 304,000 viewers in '17 (aired on UniMas & Univision Deportes), a drop of about 36.5%.
....
Across U.S. TV (FOX & UniMas), the 2018 MLS Cup Final averaged 1,756,000 viewers. down 12.5% from '16 & the last time it was on FOX.

MLS Cup Final hits 1.5 million viewers on FOX for Atlanta triumph over Portland - World Soccer Talk

 

[Coinneach]

Now we can make a comparison.

Most watched games in 2018 (only USA):

NBA: Finals Game 2 - 18.5M on ABC
MLB: World Series Game 5 - 17.7M on FOX.

NHL: Stanley Cup Final Game 5 - 6.6M on NBC.

MLS: MLS Cup - 1.8M on FOX + Unimas
WNBA: Finals Game 3 - 519k on ESPN2

 

[eddygee]

OT:
FOX’s coverage of the 2018 MLS Cup Final between Atlanta United and Portland Timbers averaged 1.5 million viewers on the over-the-air network, an increase of 10% compared to the last time a MLS final was televised on the same network two years ago when Seattle defeated Toronto FC (best viewership for a MLS Cup Final since 2002).
....
For the 2018 regular season, viewing numbers were down on both ESPN and FS1.
...
Viewership for the Western Conference Final was down almost 10% dropping from 326,000 average viewers in 2017 to 295,000 average viewers in 2018. The Eastern Conference Final was down 7% and 21,000 viewers from the 2017 edition.
.....
2018 MLS Cup Final averaged 193,000 viewers on UniMas. That's down from 304,000 viewers in '17 (aired on UniMas & Univision Deportes), a drop of about 36.5%.
....
Across U.S. TV (FOX & UniMas), the 2018 MLS Cup Final averaged 1,756,000 viewers. down 12.5% from '16 & the last time it was on FOX.

MLS Cup Final hits 1.5 million viewers on FOX for Atlanta triumph over Portland - World Soccer Talk

To be fair that's one guy among a sea of other journalist with the opposite opinion. I could post ALOT of other ones saying the opposite on twitter since the weekend..... ESPN wasn't down it was up 13% at 295k once ESPN+ streaming was included, MLS just didn't add the streaming number in the TV average like other leagues do in their press releases. FS1 was down, the bit about failing to capitalize on the World Cup was a stupidly hot take by the journalist and had a obvious reason... the US failed to qualify for the WC for first time in 30+ years driving down soccer interest. Sports Business Daily Article here is the source
MLS Regular-Season Viewership Up For Fox Sports, Down On ESPN

Show me the regular season comparisons if you want a are a more honest assessment of true day to day support of each league. The casuals come out for the big final Playoff spectacle. It's ingrained in US culture.
Same thing I'm saying now has been repeated by alot of the longtimers on this board. We get big numbers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the casual fans checking out Stanley Cup Playoffs that's how I started( dad was Flyers fan) and to a much larger extent World Series/NBA Finals/Super Bowls TV events that are ingrained in the mind since childhood as spectacles for us 30 and up crowd. MLS is the relative new kid on the block, entering its 24th season next year and finally for the second time ever it history got it's second primetime game on network TV. The last was FOX in 2016( 1.4 mil). It'll take time and many more Cups in Primetime to build that brand up to get Stanley Cup average numbers of 4.5-5 million TV viewers. Looking back no further than 2006 and 2007 NHL Stanley Cups were averaging 2006 (2.9m) 2007 (1.8m). MLS is doing quite well with the die hards that drive any league with 6 straight yrs of regular season TV growth. We can't seem to get the casual fans that tune in to the Stanley Cup playoffs to stick around and watch the regular season. We lose more diehards each year as our Regular season numbers keep decreasing. Those are numbers that should be a concern. I know we can't do much as guys and gals on a message more but if we are gonna talk TV#s and trends....

Having better playoff numbers than MLS while also having been around 4x as long to build a brand to me as a hockey and soccer fan is nothing to puff our chest about. Especially when MLS Regular season numbers keep inching up, while NHL Regular season numbers keep decreasing. Thank God for the long term revenue and sponsorship deals that were locked up the past 5-6 yrs.

 

[eddygee]

139

NHL REGULAR SEASON L: DETROIT/WASHINGTON

NBC SPORTS NETWORK

7:33 PM

166

0.06

174

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[USAUSA1]

I watched the MLS cup and thought it was enjoyable.

I don't understand why hardcore fans like to trash their favorite sport?

 

[eddygee]

I watched the MLS cup and thought it was enjoyable.

I don't understand why hardcore fans like to trash their favorite sport?

The soccer world is very territorial we don't have to deal with it too much in hockey as far as I know. People are fans of other leagues first and they no matter their profession like to see their favorite league on top. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen supposedly Professional journalist be straight up homers toward a league. That is the issue with soccer the viewership is so fractured people vowing and claiming why they can't be bothered to watch xyz league because it doesn't hold a candle to such in such league. Their is a term for it's called Eurosnobs but I've even have started seeing this trend the other way.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

To be fair that's one guy among a sea of other journalist with the opposite opinion. I could post ALOT of other ones saying the opposite on twitter since the weekend..... ESPN wasn't down it was up 13% at 295k once ESPN+ streaming was included, MLS just didn't add the streaming number in the TV average like other leagues do in their press releases. FS1 was down, the bit about failing to capitalize on the World Cup was a stupidly hot take by the journalist and had a obvious reason... the US failed to qualify for the WC for first time in 30+ years driving down soccer interest. Sports Business Daily Article here is the source
MLS Regular-Season Viewership Up For Fox Sports, Down On ESPN

View attachment 164321
Show me the regular season comparisons if you want a are a more honest assessment of true day to day support of each league. The casuals come out for the big final Playoff spectacle. It's ingrained in US culture.
Same thing I'm saying now has been repeated by alot of the longtimers on this board. We get big numbers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the casual fans checking out Stanley Cup Playoffs that's how I started( dad was Flyers fan) and to a much larger extent World Series/NBA Finals/Super Bowls TV events that are ingrained in the mind since childhood as spectacles for us 30 and up crowd. MLS is the relative new kid on the block, entering its 24th season next year and finally for the second time ever it history got it's second primetime game on network TV. The last was FOX in 2016( 1.4 mil). It'll take time and many more Cups in Primetime to build that brand up to get Stanley Cup average numbers of 4.5-5 million TV viewers. Looking back no further than 2006 and 2007 NHL Stanley Cups were averaging 2006 (2.9m) 2007 (1.8m). MLS is doing quite well with the die hards that drive any league with 6 straight yrs of regular season TV growth. We can't seem to get the casual fans that tune in to the Stanley Cup playoffs to stick around and watch the regular season. We lose more diehards each year as our Regular season numbers keep decreasing. Those are numbers that should be a concern. I know we can't do much as guys and gals on a message more but if we are gonna talk TV#s and trends....

Having better playoff numbers than MLS while also having been around 4x as long to build a brand to me as a hockey and soccer fan is nothing to puff our chest about. Especially when MLS Regular season numbers keep inching up, while NHL Regular season numbers keep decreasing. Thank God for the long term revenue and sponsorship deals that were locked up the past 5-6 yrs.

Actually other leagues and sites typically report them seperate and then together, called Total Audience Delivery.

 

[Coinneach]

Actually other leagues and sites typically report them seperate and then together, called Total Audience Delivery.

But eddygee is wrong. He quoted "out home viewership", but spoke about "streaming numbers". He mixed together two different numbers.

MLS averaged 241k on ESPN this season. Out home viewership is for us irrevelant because we dont have comparison with other leagues.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

The combined TV only audience was up 59 percent over last year but down 13 percent compared to 2016

 

[Coinneach]

The combined TV only audience was up 59 percent over last year but down 13 percent compared to 2016

Yeah, but I wrote about regular season

MLS Cup averaged 1.8M this year (FOX+UniMas), one of the best numbers in MLS history. FOX still lost that night with MLS.

 

[Coinneach]

OT:
So far this season, ESPN and TNT have aired 37 NBA games that can be compared to last year. Of those, 24 have declined in ratings and/or viewership.

Ratings: NFL on CBS, NBA, Top Rank

Still great numbers around 2M. MLB and NHL could envy

 

[eddygee]

But eddygee is wrong. He quoted "out home viewership", but spoke about "streaming numbers". He mixed together two different numbers.

MLS averaged 241k on ESPN this season. Out home viewership is for us irrevelant because we dont have comparison with other leagues.

No out of home viewership IS streaming we do have a comparison, other leagues use that measurement as well they'll either call it digital or(OOH) out of home/Total Delivery NBC uses it for NHL. NHL has the streaming or digital added to the TV average total go back and look at the articles. NBC does the same for EPL too. The article says it clearly it gave a linear TV number 241k but then clarifies things by saying ESPN was up 13% from the 2017 ESPN average of 261k. 13% of 261k is 34k.
So if you are gonna compare you can't accept the TV+Digital streaming average for leagues like NHL, but only want to use the 241k Linear TV rating for MLS and disregard the 13% increase when the digital/out of home streaming numbers are added. That's ridiculous especially when we know a bulk of that number comes from the new ESPN+ streaming service which airs a bulk of MLS games.

Out of home viewership is a fancy word for streaming/watching on the go= streaming/watching on the ESPN app. Not sure why you don't get this, so back to what I correctly said earlier 34k+261k=295k. That's why I attached the article so you and anyone else interested can see for themselves.

 

[eddygee]

The combined TV only audience was up 59 percent over last year but down 13 percent compared to 2016

You talking playoffs or regular season. Regular season hasn't been down for a long time MLS is on six straight years of TV growth. MLS Cup up on FOX but down on UniMas the game went head to head with a Liga MX(Mexican) Final for eyeballs didn't have to in 2016 or 2017. US Spanish MLS vs Liga MX=Liga MX win.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

You talking playoffs or regular season. Regular season has been down for a long time MLS is on six straight years of TV growth. MLS Cup up on FOX but down on UniMas the game went head to head with a Liga MX(Mexican) Final for eyeballs didn't have to in 2016 or 2017. US Spanish MLS vs Liga MX=Liga MX win.

Im talking about the MLS Cup. Which is what Coinneach and I were posting ratings about.


Also the Liga MX final is scheduled for Dec 13th and Dec 16th. The only match played on Dec 8th was a semifinal match between Cruz Azul and Monterrey.

 

[eddygee]

Im talking about the MLS Cup. Which is what Coinneach and I were posting ratings about.


Also the Liga MX final is scheduled for Dec 13th and Dec 16th. The only match played on Dec 8th was a semifinal match between Cruz Azul and Monterrey.

Oh yes that's what I was talking about the Semi-Final was played. I don't follow Liga MX as closely as EPL/MLS I just heard it mentioned that MLS Cup would be competing with the Liga MX final. So looks like it was the Semi-Final not the Final. The semi-final Cruz Azul vs Monterrey game got 1.1 mil viewers combined on Univision and Univision Deportes, while MLS Cup was carried on Univison's 3rd channel UniMas.

 

[Coinneach]

Out of home viewership is a fancy word for streaming/watching on the go= streaming/watching on the ESPN app. Not sure why you don't get this, so back to what I correctly said earlier 34k+261k=295k. That's why I attached the article so you and anyone else interested can see for themselves.

"The out-of-home premise is simple: Nielsen wants to count viewers watching television outside of their homes and has created an audience sample to register viewing from bars, restaurants, hotels, work, second homes, etc. ... The key is to pick up audio — people watching in bars or an airport where there is no sound are not counted,"

High hopes for out-of-home viewership numbers

 

[eddygee]

"The out-of-home premise is simple: Nielsen wants to count viewers watching television outside of their homes and has created an audience sample to register viewing from bars, restaurants, hotels, work, second homes, etc. ... The key is to pick up audio — people watching in bars or an airport where there is no sound are not counted,"

High hopes for out-of-home viewership numbers

Call it even, the number is the new way ESPN is reporting its ratings other leagues do the same. So if we're gonna use streaming numbers or total delivery for NHL ratings then we're gonna use the complete numbers for MLS. It's a wash the number is 295k total average. NBC doesn't separate the Total Audience Delivery from TV and streaming you have to do the math to get it so we shouldn't be deciding to do it for MLS.

https://www.multichannel.com/news/espn-finds-viewership-grows-total-live-audience-metric-416971

"ESPN said its move to using Nielsen Total Live Audience Measurement has added a significant number of streaming and out-of-home viewers to its ratings, including a good number of millennials.

After seven weeks of employing the new system, ESPN said, its millennial audience is up 23% in total day and 28% in primetime, compared with traditional ratings.

Overall, ESPN’s viewing is up 4% in total day and 13% in prime time.

The move to total live audience is important to ESPN, which has been losing traditional pay TV subscribers, resulting in slower revenue growth and hundreds of layoffs as the network tries to adjust to changing viewer consumption patterns."

 

[Coinneach]

Call it even, the number is the new way ESPN is reporting its ratings other leagues do the same. So if we're gonna use streaming numbers or total delivery for NHL ratings then we're gonna use the complete numbers for MLS. It's a wash the number is 295k total average. NBC doesn't separate the Total Audience Delivery from TV and streaming you have to do the math to get it so we shouldn't be deciding to do it for MLS.

https://www.multichannel.com/news/espn-finds-viewership-grows-total-live-audience-metric-416971

"ESPN said its move to using Nielsen Total Live Audience Measurement has added a significant number of streaming and out-of-home viewers to its ratings, including a good number of millennials.

After seven weeks of employing the new system, ESPN said, its millennial audience is up 23% in total day and 28% in primetime, compared with traditional ratings.

Overall, ESPN’s viewing is up 4% in total day and 13% in prime time.

The move to total live audience is important to ESPN, which has been losing traditional pay TV subscribers, resulting in slower revenue growth and hundreds of layoffs as the network tries to adjust to changing viewer consumption patterns."

Apple and oranges. Please stop.

 

[eddygee]

Apple and oranges. Please stop.

No it's definitely not. You are cherry picking what numbers to use. An Apples to Apples comparison would be taking out NBC's "Total Audience Delivery" number that includes Out of Home/Streaming viewership which NBC uses for reporting yearly viewing figures for NHL/EPL and comparing that to just ESPN's MLS linear TV average. Do you really wanna go there? The MLS season is done and they added another year of TV gains, the 6th straight year in fact. Any way lets get back to NHL Regular Season TV ratings.

 

[eddygee]

SHOWBUZZDAILY WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 12.12.2018 | Showbuzz Daily

41

NHL REGULAR SEASON L: PITTSBURGH/CHICAGO

NBC SPORTS NETWORK

8:02 PM

165

0.18

519

[TBODY] [/TBODY]