NEW YORK -- U.S. viewership of the NHL playoffs increased 24 percent from 2009, the league's highest average first-round audience in 10 years.
The NHL said Friday that NBC and Versus combined to average 742,000 viewers per telecast. That's the most since ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 had 750,000 in 2000.
Versus averaged 595,000 viewers, a 35 percent increase from 2009 and the league's best showing on cable since ESPN/ESPN2 in 2001 (608,000). Versus averaged a .7 rating, up 75 percent from 2009.
NBC averaged 430,000 viewers for its four broadcasts, an 18 percent increase over 2009. Its 1.1 average rating was the best since 2006 and up 10 percent from last year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5152366
3 comments:
Now is it because of the quality of hockey, or because seven of your final eight teams are Montreal, Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Vancouver? Both?
I would say both are factors, but that the "bigger" hockey cities playing each other is a larger factor than the quality of the hockey.
And it's definitely not because of the networks. 10pm eastern start times for the away Phoenix games? That's harsh.
I say it was because of the teams included (Crosby, Ryan Miller, Ovechkin, Detroit, Philly, Chicago, Vancouver, Boston), a post-Olympics boost in interest, and competitive series. None of them were shutouts, only one went 5, and two of them went to 7. Last time there were no first round sweeps? 2004 playoffs, which included four 4-1 series. The last time it was this competitive to open the playoffs? 1992, which involved Hartford, Minnesota (North Stars), and Winnipeg. That year didn't even include a 4-1 series in the first round. Six of the eight went to Game 7
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