Comments on: Top Sports Shows, April 14-20, NBA Playoffs

By: kayaran

kayaran — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:01:31 +0000

canadian broadcasts are on cbc and tsn, i believe. they dont get the nbc feed, and i dont believe they get the versus one either. So while more people may be watching hockey, they are doing so in another country on different stations that aren’t available in america.

By: kayaran

kayaran — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:01:31 +0000

By: idov

idov — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:26 +0000

The Saturday Bruins-Habs got an average 1.7 million in French and 1.5 million in English. But those numbers in English can go much higher depending on the teams.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=455999

You’ve also got strong numbers in some northern European countries although I’m not sure what the situation is in Russia these days.

The NHL is a writeoff in large sections of the US where the game is not played much because of the warm climate and also areas with highly concentrated minority populations. Given that the league starts off with two strikes against it, and is deprived of the hype the NBA gets on ESPN, the ratings are in pretty good shape for the shape they are in.

In just the last year all of a sudden all games are being live streamed on the Internet and the picture quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Right now it’s pirate stuff but the technology can’t be stopped and once this shakes down on a commercial basis, you are going to have mammoth crowds around the world. The NBA does not have that same potential, because the Europeans prefer their own competitions to the American whereas that is not the case with the NHL, which because it permits fighting is a different game.

By: idov

idov — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:26 +0000

The Saturday Bruins-Habs got an average 1.7 million in French and 1.5 million in English. But those numbers in English can go much higher depending on the teams.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=...

You've also got strong numbers in some northern European countries although I'm not sure what the situation is in Russia these days.

In just the last year all of a sudden all games are being live streamed on the Internet and the picture quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Right now it's pirate stuff but the technology can't be stopped and once this shakes down on a commercial basis, you are going to have mammoth crowds around the world. The NBA does not have that same potential, because the Europeans prefer their own competitions to the American whereas that is not the case with the NHL, which because it permits fighting is a different game.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:22:53 +0000

I know the NHL ratings seem pretty pathetic, but those numbers don’t include the millions that watch the NHL religiously in Canada. Combine US and Canadian numbers and I’m sure the NHL has just as many, if not more North American television viewers than the NBA. It’d be great if someone had the actual numbers/

By: dave

dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:22:53 +0000

I know the NHL ratings seem pretty pathetic, but those numbers don't include the millions that watch the NHL religiously in Canada. Combine US and Canadian numbers and I'm sure the NHL has just as many, if not more North American television viewers than the NBA. It'd be great if someone had the actual numbers/