NHL TV ratings 2022/2023

[BKIslandersFan]

Reckon you have to group West Palm Beach and Miami=Ft.Lauderdale markets together.

 

[varsaku]

Cup Final ends with least-watched Game 5 in 29 years

The Stanley Cup Final ended with its smallest Game 5 audience in nearly three decades as viewership fell 47 percent from last year.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

If low historically, Game 5 was the night’s top program in the key demographics of adults 18-49 (0.8), 18-34 (0.65) and 25-54 (1.0). Compared to last year, ratings in those demographics fell 47, 45 and 45 percent respectively from a 1.5, 1.2 and 1.8.

Key demographic being lower has got to hurt the most. Clearly shows how bad a decision it was to put the final on cable. Having package A & B not finalized simultaneously is seriously coming back to bite the NHL.

 

[NextBigThing]

So the most watched game of the playoffs was a non exclusive first round game on cable? No way to sugarcoat it, that’s something only the NHL could pull off.

 

[Fenway]

I had low expectations but these numbers are hideous

 

[Marshmallow Man]

Cup Final ends with least-watched Game 5 in 29 years

The Stanley Cup Final ended with its smallest Game 5 audience in nearly three decades as viewership fell 47 percent from last year.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Key demographic being lower has got to hurt the most. Clearly shows how bad a decision it was to put the final on cable. Having package A & B not finalized simultaneously is seriously coming back to bite the NHL.

This rating was lower than when the NHL was on Outdoor Life Network?

 

[joelef]

I had low expectations but these numbers are hideous

Yeah but the typical posters will try to find a way to spin it.

 

[S E P H]

This season was not a total loss, we saw one of the best first-rounds ever from the top of my head. This playoff was progress, small progress no doubt, but still some progress.

 

[Fenway]

The Vegas rating mirrors what Tampa generated in the SCF in past years (15) - The South Florida numbers are just brutal.

 

[Bostonzamboni]

Well it's done let's hope for a better finals next year this one was dissapointing.

It would have been even more disappointing, but at least it was a sexy and glamorous city winning, and a place where many have visited or wish to, that made for a palatable story...other unnamed franchises and/or cities now and in the future would have made the Final even more irrelevant, right?

 

[Fenway]

It would have been even more disappointing, but at least it was a sexy and glamorous city winning, and a place where many have visited or wish to, that made for a palatable story...other unnamed franchises and/or cities now and in the future would have made the Final even more irrelevant, right?

The NHL's biggest problem today is one they share with MLB................ When the local team is eliminated fans STOP watching.

In the end, Vegas produced decent local ratings for the SCF - not spectacular but as I pointed out earlier very similar to the rating generated in Tampa Bay in recent SCFs.

The ratings in South Florida were horrific but in line with their regular season ratings.

7 years ago we all thought a team in Vegas was risky but Bill Foley was willing to put up the cash and hired good people.

Have to concede nobody does a better pregame warmup than Vegas

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Yeah but the typical posters will try to find a way to spin it.

Considering the matchup and it was exclusively on cable, it’s not as bad as some think imo. It could’ve been far worse considering this series wasn’t that competitive for the most part. The real key is the 2025 SCF imo, if that’s lower than this one than NHL has real issues. The reality is Bettman once again took the money instead of reach for the SCF in this TV deal.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

At least with the NHL we don't have to deal with this bs



Fifth least watched in the last 30 years just like... the NBA finals. Again numbers were not good at all but they're not out of context from the rest.

 

[jkrdevil]

This rating was lower than when the NHL was on Outdoor Life Network?

Only games 1 and 2 of that series (Carolina-Edmonton) were on OLN. This was the first Game 5 of a Final to air on cable since 1994 (which is then was blackedout locally in NY in favor of MSG). The next 4 series were sweeps and Fox aired Game 5 in 1999. Since then games 5-7 have either aired on ABC or NBC.

 

[Melrose Munch]

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.

 

[Nicky Santoro]

Come to think of it, the ratings wasn't really that bad. The NBA final averaged 11.6M. only 4x what NHL got. and NBA is always 4x more than NHL. Also, NBA had 2 superstars in it and last game was close and all 5 games were on ABC..

NHL had 2 small markets, last game was a big blowout and all 5 games were on cable. Considering all this, NHL did ok.


If we had 2 good teams and it was all on ABC, we would've come close to NBA. Look at 2020 Lakers and Lebron vs Mia, it only averaged 7.7M for the series.. and in 2019, STL/BOS sc final averaged 5.33M. that's not too far from the laker series.

next yr if we get 2 great teams in the final on ABC, we can average 7M easily and come close to NBA again, who are declining in ratings each yr.

 

[Slashers98]

Pathetic numbers, and most people where I live in Canada didn't even bother to watch any game in the finals.

 

[varsaku]

Any news on how the Canadian viewership did for the finals. Was unable to find any.

 

[S E P H]

The NHL's biggest problem today is one they share with MLB................ When the local team is eliminated fans STOP watching.

In the end, Vegas produced decent local ratings for the SCF - not spectacular but as I pointed out earlier very similar to the rating generated in Tampa Bay in recent SCFs.

The ratings in South Florida were horrific but in line with their regular season ratings.

7 years ago we all thought a team in Vegas was risky but Bill Foley was willing to put up the cash and hired good people.

Have to concede nobody does a better pregame warmup than Vegas

Agreed, but I am not sure if hockey will ever change. There is a good amount of tribalism in the sport and that tribalism is what contributes to the sport having probably the best and most true rivalries of any North American sport.

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

Excuses? More like reasons why the numbers dropped; a Florida market that never showed up and the games being played on cable.

 

[4mats4]

The Vegas rating mirrors what Tampa generated in the SCF in past years (15) - The South Florida numbers are just brutal.



View attachment 718136

I wish we got the households by city breakdown for every national broadcast. Super interesting

 

[Brodie]

nobody should have expected anything better... you have one team which is popular in a small/medium market and one of the least popular franchises in pro sports, what do you expect in a market driven league?

 

[eddygee]

Cup Final ends with least-watched Game 5 in 29 years

The Stanley Cup Final ended with its smallest Game 5 audience in nearly three decades as viewership fell 47 percent from last year.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Key demographic being lower has got to hurt the most. Clearly shows how bad a decision it was to put the final on cable. Having package A & B not finalized simultaneously is seriously coming back to bite the NHL.

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 package, unless you're the NFL you have to sell packages with equal billing. They should have just called it our other prime rights or something. Bad PR move oh well.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

 

[ForumNamePending]

The NHL managed to more than triple their previous deal... The league played the US media rights deal(s) fine.

Anyway, I guess the good news for the NHL/rights holders, given the teams involved and the fact it was broadcast on cable in the US, is they probably now know the absolute cellar for viewership, in normal non-plague years, across both Canada and US for the SC (and Conference) Finals... Only way to go is up from here?

 

[DaBadGuy7]

The NHL managed to more than triple their previous deal... The league played the US media rights deal(s) fine.

Anyway, I guess the good news for the NHL/rights holders, given the teams involved and the fact it was broadcast on cable in the US, is they probably now know the absolute cellar for viewership, in normal non-plague years, across both Canada and US for the SC (and Conference) Finals... Only way to go is up from here?

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.

 

[jkrdevil]

The NHL managed to more than triple their previous deal... The league played the US media rights deal(s) fine.

Anyway, I guess the good news for the NHL/rights holders, given the teams involved and the fact it was broadcast on cable in the US, is they probably now know the absolute cellar for viewership, in normal non-plague years, across both Canada and US for the SC (and Conference) Finals... Only way to go is up from here?

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).