NHL Continues To Rake In The Viewers

Just received this press release from the National Hockey League regarding the viewership for Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals between Detroit and San Jose. According to the NHL, Versus garnered the highest viewership for a Conference Semifinal game on cable in ten years. The viewership averaged 1.772 million viewers on Versus. A game in 2000 between Colorado and Detroit was watched by an average of 1.9 million. We have the press release directly from the NHL.

U.S. TV PARTNERS SHOW CONTINUED GROWTH FOR STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

San Jose-Detroit Game 2 Most-Watched Conference Semifinal Game on Cable in 10 Years

First Round Saw Best U.S. Viewership in a Decade

NEW YORK (May 4, 2010) – After generating substantial growth across all TV partners for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, VERSUS and NBC Sports continued to see strong increases for the start of the Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals. 

Through four days of the Conference Semis, VERSUS’ average viewership is up 91% over the same time period last year (1.314 million vs 689,000).  The network has also seen substantial viewership increases among all key male demos: Men 18-34 (up 78%), Men 18-49 (up 69%) and Men 25-54 (up 76%).   

This second-round success is highlighted by Sunday’s Game 2 of the Detroit/San Jose series, which averaged 1.772 million viewers — making it VERSUS’ most-watched Conference Semifinal game in network history and the most-watched second-round game on cable in a decade (Colorado/Detroit, May 1, 2000 on ESPN, 1.926 million). 

Both games on NBC Sports this past weekend registered 1.6 overnight ratings, resulting in the best second-round weekend ever on NBC (coverage began for the 2005-06 season). It was the first time a second-round on NBC featured two games with at least a 1.6 overnight rating.

So the NHL continues to see higher ratings on both Versus and NBC. On this week’s edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal will be speaking to someone from Versus regarding the NHL coverage and the ratings. Look for it within the next 24 hours or so.