The NHL season got off to a mixed start on NBCSN.
Thursday’s Blues/Blackhawks NHL season opener had a 0.5 final rating and 905,000 viewers on NBCSN, down a tick in ratings and 2% in viewership from Rangers/Blackhawks last year (0.6, 925K) and down a tick and 5%, respectively, from Flyers/Bruins in 2014 (0.5, 956K). It was the least-watched opening game of the season since Flyers/Bruins in 2011 (874K).
Viewership declined despite an absence of major competition. Last year’s game faced the Cubs/Pirates MLB playoff game, which had 8.3 million viewers. There were no baseball playoff games this time around.
In the nightcap, Kings/Sharks had 484,000 viewers — up 22% from last year (396K) and 9% from 2014 (446K), both of which featured the same matchup.
Locally, Blues/Blackhawks had a 6.1 in St. Louis and a 5.2 in Chicago. In the former, it was the second-highest rated regular season NHL game ever on NBCSN. Kings/Sharks had a 1.4 in the Bay Area and a 1.1 in Los Angeles.
(Wed. numbers via Programming Insider 10/13; NBC Sports PR/Twitter 10/13a, 10/13b)
