"Canadiens-Penguins nets 1.572m viewers as NHL restart scores strong TV ratings
Ice hockey league’s return gives NBC most-watched double-header in four years.
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The Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on 1st August was the most-watched National Hockey League (NHL) game of the 2019/20 season, excluding the Winter Classic.
The game averaged a total audience delivery (TAD) of 1.572 million viewers for commercial broadcaster NBC, which holds the rights to the North American ice hockey league in the United States.
The primetime viewership was the highest ever on NBC for an NHL game featuring a Canadian team, not including Winter Classics and traditional playoff games.
The fixture was one of five Stanley Cup Qualifiers to take place on 1st August as the NHL returned to action in its two hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto following its coronavirus-enforced suspension.
The game was one of two matchups to air on the main NBC channel, which also showed game one of the series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers, which averaged a TAD of 1.117 million viewers, up four per cent of the 2019/20 regular season average.
The pair of games on NBC combined for an average of 1.361 million viewers, making it the most-watched NHL double-header on the channel in four years, with the exception of traditional playoff games.
The NHL’s expanded 24-team playoffs feature the top 12 franchises from the Eastern and Western conferences, with qualification determined by each team’s points percentage when the 2019/20 regular season was suspended on 12th March due to the pandemic.
The top four teams from each conference are playing separate round-robin tournaments to determine their seeding, with the remaining 16 teams participating in a qualifying round, which comprises eight best-of-five game series.
The NHL is the latest major US sports league to score strong TV ratings on its return. Major League Soccer (MLS), which was the first men’s competition to restart, recorded 464,000 viewers on cable network ESPN for the first game of its MLS is Back Tournament, making it the US pay-TV network’s fifth most-watched regular season broadcast in five years.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s coverage of the New York Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals on 23rd July roped in four million viewers, a record average audience for a Major League Baseball (MLB) opening night broadcast.
There have also been big viewing numbers for North America’s women’s sports leagues, including the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which twice broke the record for the most-watched NWSL game in history during its recently concluded Challenge Cup.
In the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the opening day game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury recorded an average audience of 540,000 on commercial broadcast network ABC, marking a 20 per cent increase on last year and becoming the league’s most-watched opener since 2012.
https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nhl-tv-ratings-nbc-penguins-canadiens-stanley-cup-playoffs
Ice hockey league’s return gives NBC most-watched double-header in four years.
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- Posted: August 3 2020
- By: Sam Carp
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- Canadiens v Penguins becomes most watched-game of 2019/20 NHL season
- Total of five games air across NBC platforms for ice hockey league’s restart
- Two fixtures on main NBC channel averaged 1.361m viewers
The Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on 1st August was the most-watched National Hockey League (NHL) game of the 2019/20 season, excluding the Winter Classic.
The game averaged a total audience delivery (TAD) of 1.572 million viewers for commercial broadcaster NBC, which holds the rights to the North American ice hockey league in the United States.
The primetime viewership was the highest ever on NBC for an NHL game featuring a Canadian team, not including Winter Classics and traditional playoff games.
The fixture was one of five Stanley Cup Qualifiers to take place on 1st August as the NHL returned to action in its two hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto following its coronavirus-enforced suspension.
The game was one of two matchups to air on the main NBC channel, which also showed game one of the series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers, which averaged a TAD of 1.117 million viewers, up four per cent of the 2019/20 regular season average.
The pair of games on NBC combined for an average of 1.361 million viewers, making it the most-watched NHL double-header on the channel in four years, with the exception of traditional playoff games.
The NHL’s expanded 24-team playoffs feature the top 12 franchises from the Eastern and Western conferences, with qualification determined by each team’s points percentage when the 2019/20 regular season was suspended on 12th March due to the pandemic.
The top four teams from each conference are playing separate round-robin tournaments to determine their seeding, with the remaining 16 teams participating in a qualifying round, which comprises eight best-of-five game series.
The NHL is the latest major US sports league to score strong TV ratings on its return. Major League Soccer (MLS), which was the first men’s competition to restart, recorded 464,000 viewers on cable network ESPN for the first game of its MLS is Back Tournament, making it the US pay-TV network’s fifth most-watched regular season broadcast in five years.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s coverage of the New York Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals on 23rd July roped in four million viewers, a record average audience for a Major League Baseball (MLB) opening night broadcast.
There have also been big viewing numbers for North America’s women’s sports leagues, including the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which twice broke the record for the most-watched NWSL game in history during its recently concluded Challenge Cup.
In the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the opening day game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury recorded an average audience of 540,000 on commercial broadcast network ABC, marking a 20 per cent increase on last year and becoming the league’s most-watched opener since 2012.
https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nhl-tv-ratings-nbc-penguins-canadiens-stanley-cup-playoffs
