Nick Piccone
The Penguins-Sharks Stanley Cup Final wasn’t a bad one. It featured all the things that make playoff hockey great. But the numbers won’t tell that story, because they’re pretty bad. Also, not good.
The six-game series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks averaged four million viewers, making it the third lowest-rated final since 2006, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data.
As a point of comparison, the NBA Finals on ABC are averaging a 18.1 million viewers per game, reports Anthony Crupi of Ad Age.
Part of the issue was that Games 2 and 3 were aired on NBCSN instead of NBC, with the former reaching only about 70 percent of all TV homes in the U.S.
On top of that, the series-deciding Game 6 went head-to-head with “Game Of Thrones”; hockey drew 5.41 million viewers in the most-watched match of the series, but those numbers were dwarfed by Thrones, as the fantasy drama was watched by 7.6 million.
Do people just not like the Penguins and Sharks? That also has to be considered. The Sharks aren’t in a market that especially breeds hockey fandom. Pittsburgh, even with their hockey team winning their fourth Stanley Cup, doesn’t exactly drive people to watch.
There’s also been obstacle after obstacle for the NHL to overcome. Opening the series on Memorial Day Weekend and the same night of Game 7 between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA’s Western Conference Finals wasn’t the smartest move, business-wise. Of course, there’s no way to expect to be up against a Game 7 in another sport, and maybe beginning the Stanley Cup Final on Memorial Day Weekend was someone’s idea of being perfect because nobody is at work was a little fruitless.
It wouldn’t seem like any of the other sports leagues have that issue. The NBA Finals have had great ratings despite an inferior product in comparison to the Stanley Cup Final. And I totally understand that – the storyline is better and LeBron James and Steph Curry are their own brand. But playoff hockey is nearly unmatched by any of the four major sports’ playoffs. Soccer is becoming increasingly popular, as you read yesterday. And the Philadelphia Union are in first place right now. So it might not matter in the grand scheme of things that playoff hockey generally has the best product of the major sports. If there’s not a big city involved, numbers will suffer.
Hockey’s fighting an uphill battle, but it’s not because of the content they supply. It’s probably because of how many hockey fans stop watching after their team is eliminated.
If you’re wondering why and don’t know then you’re not paying attention.
Put it this way: Las Vegas will fail.
Most American hockey fans cannot stand Sidney Crosby and Penguins. And they do not enjoy listening to a broadcast spend 3 hours telling you how awesome he is.
It has been the problem for years. NBC tries to win over casual hockey fans by alienating die-hard fans.
NBC did a really lousy job promoting the final two rounds of the playoffs as well. It was hard to figure out which nights games were on. They avoided Saturday night games. But then put them on Sunday night, which is the biggest night for games.
Agree with the Saucer. I certainly know why. I’m paying attention.