Ratings for The NHL on NBC
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Contents |
[edit] NHL All-Star Game ratings
| Year | Rating |
| 1991 | 2.7 |
| 1992 | 2.3 |
| 1993 | 2.4 |
| 1994 | 2.5 |
[edit] 2005-06 regular season
NBC earned a 1.5/3 overnight Nielsen rating for its first week of NHL action in the 2005-2006 season. The regional coverage was down 11.8% from a 1.7/4 for the first week of The NHL on ABC in 2004. NBC's regional coverage of New York Rangers-Detroit Red Wings to 35% of the country earned a 1.4/3 overnight rating. The game earned a 1.3/3 in New York and a 7.8/17 in Detroit. The NHL on NBC got only an 0.7 rating on April 8, 2006, or 803,000 households.
[edit] 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs
When NBC went head-to-head with The NBA on ABC on May 7, 2006, ABC got a 4.3 (3.3 million households) rating whereas NBC got a 0.9 (693,000 households) rating.[1] The first round of ratings for the 2006 playoffs on NBC were down between 13% and 19% from two years earlier on ABC, and the regular season ratings were more dismal still. The May 13, 2006, Carolina-New Jersey game on a Saturday afternoon had fewer viewers than the surfing competition that was its lead-in. More people watched a poker event that particular weekend than watched that hockey game. NBC's 1.1 average rating for the 2006 NHL playoffs was 21% lower than ABC's pre-lockout average of 1.4 in 2004.
Still, NBC claimed in May 2006 that the ratings were about what it expected, and that it would turn a profit on its NHL coverage for the 2005-06 season. Thus, the NHL also stood to gain money on the deal.[2]
[edit] 2006 Stanley Cup Finals
For Game 3 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, NBC got a 1.7 overnight rating, with one point equaling 1% of the United States' 77 million overnight TV households. That was down from a 2.0 for Game 3 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. Out of four television networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX) broadcasting programming on Saturday, June 10, NBC came in dead last. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals earned a mere 2.88 million viewers, and a 1.1/ 4 among adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m. Game 4 (June 12) earned NBC another fourth place (technically, fifth place if you count TNT the season premiere of The Closer) finish. Game 4 got a 2.6 rating (with a 1.5 in the 18-49 demo) with only 3.85 million viewers. Game 7 earned NBC a 3.3 rating and 6 share. That was down by 21percent from Game 7 in 2004 -- the last season before the lockout. In 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning's Game 7 victory over the Calgary Flames had a 4.2 rating and a 7 share on ABC. It was at or near the top in all coveted TV viewer demographics.
In all, the five Stanley Cup Finals games that NBC aired averaged a 2.3 rating and 4 share. That's down by 12% from a 2.6/5 on ABC in 2004. In addition, NBC averaged 3.6 million viewers, which was down by 8% from ABC's 3.9 million in 2004.
[edit] 2006-2007 season
The first week of action on NBC (1/13 at 2:00) (posted a 1.1 rating, down from the 1.7 from last year's opening week, but on par with The NHL On NBC's 2005-06 average.
Week 2 (1/28 at 3:30), with a move to Sundays, produced a 1.3 rating for 3 games despite facing steep competition from the NBA and Golf action featuring Tiger Woods.
Week 3 of the NHL on NBC (2/11 at 3:30) drew a 0.9 overnight rating with a 2 share, lower than the rating for CBS' presentation of Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross and bull riding on NBC.
Week 4 (2/18 at 3:30) featuring Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby facing Washington's Alex Ovechkin drew a 1.0 overnight rating, beaten in its 3:30-6:00 PM timeslot by ABC's presentation of figure skating (1.7).
Week 5 (3/4 at 12:30) featuring Colorado/Detroit and Pittsburgh/Philadelphia drew the best overnight rating of the season (1.3/3) on NBC in its earliest timeslot. Unlike previous weeks, when hockey had to compete against NASCAR, the NBA and golf, the only competition was college basketball (Kentucky/Florida - 2.1/5) and the Arena Football League (1.2/3).
Week 6 (3/11 at 12:30) featuring Boston/Detroit and Carolina/NY Rangers drew a par for the course 1.1 rating. Despite the dropoff in market size (with Carolina being featured), the NHL came close to the NBA game on the same day (Sacramento/Denver - 1.5).
Week 7 (3/25 at 12:30) rode the Crosby bandwagon to another 1.1, despite airing a blowout game (Boston/Pittsburgh) in most of the country. Most of the U.S. was switched to the other game (Rangers/Islanders) by the third period. The NHL telecast on NBC drew a larger national audience than ABC's National Basketball Association telecast (Phoenix Suns-Sacramento Kings). Each network earned a 1.0 rating (percentage of households tuned in), but NBC pulled in a larger audience share (percentage of time that people spent watching the telecast), 3 compared with 2. In total viewership, NBC outdrew ABC 1.31 million to 1.26 million.
Through seven dates this season, NBC's NHL coverage has held steady with a 1.1 average.
