The Sports Business Daily reports that several programs managed to outdraw the first three games of the Stanley Cup Finals. As a disclaimer, the fairness of comparing a sports program to a non-sports program is suspect (as I pointed out in the Spelling Bee/NBA column). That being said, falling to a fairly well-watched event like the Spelling Bee is far different from falling to reruns of Mama’s Family on the ION Network.
- “Game One ranked 58th among all TV programs on May 28, with its 0.5 U.S HH rating and average audience of 769,000 viewers, ranking just behind Food Network’s ‘Build a Better Burger’ (807,000 viewers) and E!’s ‘Sunset Tan’ (795,000 viewers).”
- “Game Two ranked 74th on May 30 with a U.S HH rating of 0.4 and an average audience of 576,000, placing it just behind a pair of episodes of “Mama’s Family” on ION Networks (659,000 viewers and 620,000 viewers) and “VH1 All Access: Celebrity Parties” (578,000) (THE DAILY).”
- Game 3 “fell below the movie “Meltdown: Days Destruct” on Sci-Fi Channel, which posted a 1.2 U.S HH rating and 1.963 million viewers from 9:00-11:00pm the same night.”
It should be pointed out that Mama’s Family aired on ION (formerly i and PAX), a broadcast network.
The most disconcerting part of this for the NHL may be the fact that Game 3 (on broadcast television) could not draw a better number than a movie premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel (cable).
Compared to other sports programming, Game 3 was outdrawn by the NBA game airing opposite (on cable), 7.4 million to 1.6 million.
See also: “Ducks/Sens Game 3 ties NBC record low.”, “Sens, Ducks, may doom NHL.”
