The Chicago Blackhawks set a ratings record for the fifth time this season Tuesday night. In other news, ESPN scored its third-best audience of the college basketball season with Saturday’s Miami/Duke game, and NBC Sports Network attracted one of its largest regular season NHL audiences ever with Sunday’s Bruins/Canadiens clash.
Yet Another Ratings Record For Blackhawks
- Tuesday’s Wild/Blackhawks NHL regular season game earned a 7.86 rating on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the highest rating ever for a Blackhawks regular season game on the network. The previous high was a 7.54 for Blackhawks/Blues last Thursday night. Eighteen of the 19 highest rated Blackhawks games ever on CSN Chicago have occurred this season alone, and the network has set a new ratings record on five separate occasions. Keep in mind the 2013 season — an abbreviated 48-game campaign due to the owners’ lockout — began less than two months ago. Prior to the start of this season, the record for the Blackhawks on CSN was a 4.35. (csnchicago.com)
Miami/Duke Earns Third-Best Audience of Season on ESPN
- ESPN earned a 2.2 U.S. rating and 3.4 million viewers for Saturday’s Miami/Duke men’s college basketball game, down 19% in ratings and 20% in viewership from North Carolina/Duke on the comparable date last year, which was one week later in the season (2.7, 4.2M). Despite the decline, the game ranks as the third-most viewed college basketball game of the season on ESPN, trailing only Michigan/Indiana on February 2 (4.0M) and Indiana/Michigan State on February 19 (3.7M). (ESPN)
Bruins/Canadiens Earns Fifth-Best Reg. Season Audience Ever on NBCSN
- NBC Sports Network scored 813,000 viewers for the Bruins/Canadiens game Sunday night, the network’s largest audience ever for an NHL regular season game involving a Canadian team. The previous record was set by Canadiens/Bruins earlier this season (771K). Overall, Sunday’s game ranks as the fifth-most viewed regular season game of any kind on NBCSN since the network began airing NHL games in the 2005-06 season. Five of the six most-viewed games on NBCSN have taken place this season alone. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
