NHL PLAYOFFS ON VERSUS
Last night’s Philadelphia at Pittsburgh – Game #1 on VERSUS (7:00p-9:46p) averaged a 0.42 national household rating, 316,896 households and 442,791 viewers. Those figures are up 5%, 9% and 23% from last year’s comparable telecast (4/9/08, Ottawa at Pittsburgh, 7:00p-9:53p – Gm 1) which averaged a 0.40 rating, 291,930 households and 359,628 viewers.
VERSUS’ late game (St Louis at Vancouver – Game #1, 9:59p-12:53a) averaged a 0.34 national household rating, 257,092 households and 344,295 viewers. Those figure are up 10%, 13% and 31% from their comparable date telecast (Calgary at San Jose – Game #1, 10:09p – 12:42a), which averaged a 0.31 rating, 226,684 households and 263,192 viewers.
In total, VERSUS averaged a 0.38 household cable rating, 286,290 households and 392,384 viewers. Those figures are up 6%, 10% and 25% from last year’s opening night average of 0.36, 261,308 households and 314,368 viewers. The 314,368 viewer average for the night makes it VERSUS most watched opening night of the NHL playoffs since they started carrying NHL games in the 2005-06 season.
NHL PLAYOFFS ON CBC
CBC’s broadcast of Philadelphia at Pittsburgh last night (7:00p-9:50p) averaged 641,000 viewers. That figure is down 44% from the comparable date game (4/9/08, Ottawa at Pittsburgh), which averaged 1,135,000 viewers. It is however only down 7% from CBC’s Quarter Final average last year for games involving two U.S teams (686,000 viewers).
CBC’s late game broadcast of St Louis at Vancouver (10:00p-12:47a) averaged 1,388,000 viewers. That’s up 55% from the 895,000 viewers that CBC posted for the comparable date game (4/9/08, Calgary/San Jose, 10:04p-1:00a).
In total, CBC averaged 1,011,000 viewers for opening night of the 2009 NHL playoffs. That figure is on par with the 1,018,000 that they averaged on the first night last year.
NHL PLAYOFFS ON TSN
TSN’s NY Rangers at Washington Capital telecast (7:00p-9:40p) delivered 521,000 viewers. That’s up 92% from the 271,000 viewers that TSN averaged for their comparable date broadcast (4/9/08, NY Rangers at New Jersey, 7:00p-9:26p).
TSN’s telecast of Carolina at New Jersey (joined in progress – 9:40p-9:57p) averaged 349,000 viewers. That’s up 35% from the 258,000 that the Colorado/Minnesota (joined in progress, 9:26p – 12:05a) telecast averaged on the comparable date last year.
In total, TSN averaged 504,000 viewers on opening night of the 2009 NHL Playoffs. That’s up 91% from the 264,000 that the network averaged on opening night of the 2008 playoffs.
NHL PLAYOFFS ON RDS
RDS’s broadcast of Philadelphia at Pittsburgh (7:00p-9:49p) averaged 329,000 viewers. That figure is down 23% from the comparable date game (4/9/08, Ottawa at Pittsburgh, 7:00p-9:57p), which averaged 428,000 viewers. It is however up 51% from RDS’s Quarter Final average for games involving two U.S teams last year (218,000 viewers).
RDS’s late game broadcast of St Louis at Vancouver (10:00p-12:48a) averaged 105,000 viewers. That’s down 50% from the 210,000 viewers that RDS posted for the comparable date game (4/9/08, Colorado at Minnesota, 9:57p – 12:10a), but down only 37% from RDS’s Quarter final late game average last year involving two U.S. teams (167,000 viewers).
In total, RDS averaged 217,000 viewers for opening night of the 2009 NHL playoffs. That figure is down 35% from the 334,000 that they averaged on the first night last year.
LET’S GO PENS!!!!! I don’t know the numbers, of course, but our local Fox Sports outlet was pleased with last night’s ratings course
. Good to see some other markets watched as well.
The Pens renewed their radio broadcast contract today too, on “alternative” station 105.9 FM. Yay Pens!!!
…”ratings OF course” — forgot the “of.”
For those not in the know, CBS, TSN and RDS are Canadian channels. The first one is the national public broadcast, the second is the Canadian equivalent of ESPN, and RDS is TSN’s French language counterpart.
Doug, you mean CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company)…CBS is American
I’m glad you published these numbers. I am a huge hockey fan and I am really curious about the TV Ratings for Hockey! Keep up the Good Work. BTW, what were the ratings on tonight’s Sharks Game vs. Anaheim?
Ryan, unfortunately ratings info for Thursday night isn’t available until Friday at around 11am ET. The NHL data will probably be catch as catch can, I might see it sometimes like this (it’s not the sort of thing we have regular or easy access too) and if I do, I will post it, but I am not expecting we will see this regularly for every night of the NHL playoffs.
It looks like the NHL is about to see a huge peak period for their sport in the next decade with most of the important franchises like the Blackhawks, Rangers, and Bruins all getting back on track. Sidney Crosby and the Pens will help them too. Wings will also help them too.
I still think that the NHL either needs to move back to ESPN or another network that serves over 90 million households or Versus needs to try to get into 90-95 million households so their ratings can touch around million viewers like Canada’s ratings.
Thanks for posting this rating and make sure you post the Hawks rating too!
Is there enough money in hockey for NBC to expand their coverage – maybe offering weekend prime-time games, during the playoffs, on the broacast net?