As rare as an occurrence as any during the past several years, the NHL heads into the All Star break with generally positive numbers.
Through the first 29 games of the season, Versus is averaging a 0.3 rating for NHL games, up 50% from a 0.2 last year. Games on Versus are also up 34% in total viewers, with 262,000 viewers per game — compared to 196,000 last year. NHL games are now drawing more viewers on Versus than they did on ESPN2 during the 2003-04 season.
Versus has seen its biggest audience growth come in the men 25-54 demo; just short of 100,000 men 25 to 54 are tuning into the NHL on Versus, up 51% from last year.
Versus is not alone in seeing increased ratings for NHL games. Through mid-January, ratings for NHL games on FSN were up 25%, with ratings jumping by over 100% for some teams. As most know by now, the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day was a complete success, drawing a 2.2 national rating on NBC — the highest rating for a regular season NHL game since the final game of Wayne Gretzky‘s career drew the same rating in 1999.
Not all of the news is good, however. Last Sunday, NBC drew a 0.8/2 for its Boston Bruins/New York Rangers broadcast, down 27% from a 1.1 for the season debut in 2007.
More importantly, the NHL All Star Game is in grave danger of passing unnoticed. The game, only the second All Star Game in the NHL since 2004, will “not even be this week’s largest attraction” in Atlanta, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The International Poultry Expo has drawn far more visitors to Atlanta than the NHL All Star Game; the event “drew an estimated 20,000 and accounted for the booking of 25,000 hotel room nights“, compared to only “8,000 out-of-town visitors and 6,700 hotel room nights” for the NHL.
Not only will the All Star Game be apparently outshined by poultry in Atlanta, but the game’s presence on Versus figures to leave it unseen by most television viewers. Last year, the All Star Game drew a 0.7 rating on Versus, thanks to a ludicrous scheduling move that landed it in the middle of the week (and opposite broadcast behemoth American Idol). With the game moving to Sunday, a far more sensible date on the calendar, ratings figure to improve. Still, considering no NHL game has ever drawn a 1.0 rating on Versus, having the game air on NBC may have been the better option for the league. There is every possibility the All Star Game could find itself beaten in the ratings by the Nuggets/Mavericks game ESPN will air in the same timeslot.
None of this even mentions the injury to Penguins superstar and league icon Sidney Crosby, who will be on the shelf for six to eight weeks. His absence will have a major effect on the NHL national TV schedule; from February 10 to March 30, the Penguins are slated to play in one of the three games NBC has to choose from for its flexible schedule.
With this in mind, the NHL enters its midseason classic almost at a crossroads. Despite the successes of this season, the league is still finds itself far behind its competitors in terms of visibility and relevance. The league has made great strides so far this year, but still has a long way to go.
