The NHL Winter Classic returned with record-low ratings, but set an all-time record-high for a regular season game on cable.
The New Year’s Day Blues-Wild NHL Winter Classic averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.36 million viewers on TNT, marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game (13 total). Ratings fell 48% and viewership 30% from the previous edition two years ago, which aired during the afternoon on NBC (Predators-Stars: 1.15, 1.96M).
Despite the new low, the Blues’ win delivered the largest audience on record for a regular season NHL game on cable, topping the previous mark set by a Flyers-Panthers game on ESPN in December 2000. During its 16-year run with the NHL, NBCSN/VERSUS/OLN topped out at 1.02 million for a Flyers-Bruins outdoor game last February.
For the season, the Winter Classic ranks as the most-watched NHL game on any network, ahead of ABC’s season debut on the day after Thanksgiving (1.23M). That game still ranks as the highest rated of the season (0.7). By comparison, the game comfortably outdrew ESPN’s much-hyped return to NHL coverage on Opening Night (Penguins-Lightning: 0.56, 983K) and TNT’s NHL debut the following night (Rangers-Capitals: 0.44, 817K).
The record-low numbers for the Winter Classic were easy to predict, given the move from broadcast to cable and the declining novelty of the outdoor game concept. Ratings and viewership for the game topped out at a 2.5 and 4.4 million in 2014 (Maple Leafs-Red Wings) and have declined in all-but-one year since. (The 2019 Blackhawks-Bruins game scored a double-digit increase over Rangers-Sabres the previous year.)
NHL Winter Classic ratings, viewership, all-time
Game not played in 2013 or 2021.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 1.5, network PR]
