NHL viewership is up double-digits heading into the league’s first Olympic break in 12 years.
NHL regular season games are averaging 491,000 viewers entering the Olympic break, up 15% from the same point last year. While some of the gains can be attributed to Nielsen methodological changes — specifically the expansion of its out-of-home viewing sample and shift to a new methodology that adds “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes to its traditional panel — those are unlikely to fully explain an increase of that size.
As previously noted, ESPN and ABC are averaging 795,000 viewers through Sunday (22 games) — up 39% from last year — topped by a season-high 2.1 million for last Sunday’s Bruins-Lightning Stadium Series outdoor game on ESPN.
TNT is averaging 352,000 through Wednesday (46 games, including truTV simulcasts), up 8% from last year. The network posted far bigger gains in the month of January, with its average of 310,000 up 37% from the same month last year (226K). (Keep in mind that excludes the January 2 Winter Classic, which did not take place in January the prior year.)
NHL viewership declined 12% last season, which saw several of the familiar, big-market American teams fail to make the playoffs. While the Rangers are even worse this year — ranking dead last in the East — a few of the marquee attractions are back in playoff position. The Penguins would have home ice in the first round if the playoffs started today, and the Bruins would hold the second Wild Card in the East. The Red Wings, the biggest draw in the league during the “Hockeytown” days of the early 2000s, are on pace for their first playoff appearance in a decade.
Detroit, it should be noted, has been the most-watched team on TNT this season — with its six games on the network averaging 455,000. A similar figure for ESPN was not immediately available, but the Red Wings played in the most-watched ABC game so far this year, a January 3 matchup with Pittsburgh that drew 1.6 million. (That game in all probability was lifted by a lead-in from breaking news coverage.)
Across the U.S. and Canada, NHL games have reached 47.4 million viewers, per the league — up 23% from last year. Reach is the total number of viewers who watched a certain number of minutes of a program (once six, now one), as opposed to the average minute audience.
