A big win for Red Wings, and the NHL
League draws its best postseason ratings (US) in years

By Toni Fitzgerald
MediaLife.com
Jun 5, 2008


Last night the Detroit Red Wings clinched their 11th Stanley Cup championship, and with it put an end to hockey’s long post-lockout malaise.

A great finals matchup, a classic game five, and a series of playoff ratings zeniths helped boost the National Hockey League to its best postseason in years following last season’s low point, when the league posted its lowest-ever Stanley Cup final ratings.

Numbers for last night’s series ender won’t be released until later today, but based on ratings for the previous games, this will be the best Stanley Cup finals since the lockout ended in 2005 and the top game-five performance in six years.

The first three games on NBC, which splits carriage with Versus, have averaged a 3.0 household rating and 6 share, 88 percent better than last year’s 1.6/3.

The series will deliver triple-digit percentage increases among key male demos compared with last year. In men 18-49 and men 25-54, the games are up 123 percent or more year to year.

And Versus posted its most-watched telecast ever for game two, which drew 2.6 million viewers. Games one and two had the best average viewership for any Stanley Cup openers since 2002.

Of course the bigger question for the NHL is whether it can leverage the strong finals into continued interest in the game next season and going forward. Just last year, it seemed as though hockey had become an afterthought, drifting behind auto racing as the nation’s No. 5.

Though this year’s ratings increases have been impressive, hockey viewership still lags well behind NASCAR and even horse racing.

One good sign for hockey is that advertisers already appear pleased with its performance. This week the NHL signed an extension with Anheuser-Busch and Labatt Breweries that will keep Bud Light as the league’s official beer through the 2010-’11 season, extending their 10-year-old partnership.

Meanwhile, the buzz over this year’s finals series may continue for weeks to come after Monday’s exciting triple-overtime game between the Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The NHL says that fans streamed a record number of video highlights of the game on NHL.com, 50 percent better than the site’s previous one-day best. And the game’s 3.8 household rating marked the highest-rated Stanley Cup game since NBC gained rights to the league in 2006.

There have been definite reasons for the poor ratings in past years, not the least of which has been the finals participants. Hockey tends to perform best when traditional powers like Detroit, No. 3 on the all-time Stanley Cup victors list, make the finals.

The past few years, however, the Cup has been won by teams in Florida, North Carolina and California, where hockey has next to no following.

Rabid local fans can give the NHL a big boost. In the Detroit market, for example, the finals outdrew the competing NBA playoffs.

Plus, the NHL has still been recovering from the effects of the 2004-2005 lockout, which alienated fans and confounded even loyal viewers, who found that the games had switched to from ESPN/ABC to Versus/NBC when the strike finally ended.

Finally, the NHL seemed to be hurt by a general trend in sports the past few years of declining viewership opposite more competition from other TV and new media outlets. This year, however, the Super Bowl, NBA playoffs and NASCAR are all up over last year.

Interesting to note that on weekdays, KING-TV (Seattle's NBC affiliate) chose to air their usual supper fare, followed by Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy.  

Methinks the NHL still has a LONGGGG way to go to have the recognition it craves in the U.S.  

Quoted from CRS

Interesting to note that on weekdays, KING-TV (Seattle's NBC affiliate) chose to air their usual supper fare, followed by Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy

hmmm, not sure, but the last time I checked, "Wheel and Jeopardy" are carried by Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO 4?

.

Quoted from voice over

hmmm, not sure, but the last time I checked, "Wheel and Jeopardy" are carried by Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO 4?

.

ok, Evening Magazine & Inside Edition.  Sheesh.  picky.  

Nifty bump for final Stanley Cup game  
Game six on NBC averages a 4.2 household rating

By Toni Fitzgerald
MediaLife.com
Jun 5, 2008


The hotter ratings for the Stanley Cup finals continued last night, with game six wrapping up the series on NBC.

The Red Wings’ series-clinching victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins averaged a 4.2 household rating from 8 to 11 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, up 17 percent over a 3.6 for Monday’s game five.

As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data, not actual program data, and the Cup had an irregular running time. We won’t know until final numbers are released later today how the game really performed.

But it looks as though it will surpass Monday’s game five as the highest-rated Stanley Cup final game since 2004, the year before the NHL lockout.

It was way up from last year’s decisive game five among adults 18-49, averaging a 3.0, more than double 2007’s 1.2 in fast nationals.

Still, it wasn’t enough for NBC to take No. 1 for the night. Fox finished first among viewers 18-49 with a 3.5 average overnight rating and an 11 share. NBC was second at 3.0/9, ABC, CBS and Univision all tied for third at 1.7/5, and CW was sixth at 0.6/2.

I think KING tends to bump the hockey to KONG, their cable sister-station.  We don't get it in BC but most homes in the Seattle area do, so Seattle-ites looking for it would be able to find it.

And CBC Vancouver is widely available in the Seattle area, too.

A big hat tip to voice god Jim Conrad who has been heard on NBC Sports promos during the playoff run.  

Sounding great!