Your Final NHL Local TV Ratings and Viewership Rankings in the US

April 19, 2010 by Stephen M. Lepore

From the article by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal. Special thanks to Ben Wright. We’ll do ratings first, then number of households watching. Data for the Hurricanes and Predators is not available.

Ratings

1. Pittsburgh Penguins (FS Pittsburgh) – 8.05 (Up 26.2%)

2. Buffalo Sabres (MSG Buffalo) – 6.45 (Down 19%)

3. Detroit Red Wings (FS Detroit) – 4.21 (Up 5.3%)

4. Chicago Blackhawks (CSN Chicago) – 2.45 (Up 131.1%)

5. St. Louis Blues (FS Midwest) – 2.33 (Up 21.4%)

T6. Boston Bruins (NESN) – 2.18 (Down 13.8%)

T6. Philadelphia Flyers (CSN Philadelphia) – 2.18 (Down 8.8%)

8. Minnesota Wild (FS North) – 1.67 (Down 27.4%)

9. Washington Capitals (CSN Mid-Atlantic) – 1.6 (Up 46.8%)

10. Colorado Avalanche (Altitude) – 1.56 (Up 13%)

11. Columbus Blue Jackets (FS Ohio) – 1.39 (Down 25.3%)

12. San Jose Sharks (CSN California) – 1.11 (Down 20.7%)

13. New York Rangers (MSG) – 0.89 (Down 18.3%)

14. Dallas Stars (FS Southwest) – 0.74 (Up 27.6%)

15. Phoenix Coyotes (FS Arizona) – 0.62 (Up 55%)

16. Tampa Bay Lightning (Sun Sports) – 0.60 (Up 27.7%)

17. New Jersey Devils (MSG Plus) – 0.58 (Up 48.7%)

18. Los Angeles Kings (FS West) – 0.48 (Up 50%)

19. Anaheim Ducks (Prime Ticket) – 0.42 (Up 50%)

20. New York Islanders (MSG Plus) – 0.36 (Up 100%)

21. Atlanta Thrashers (SportSouth) – 0.33 (Up 26.9%)

22. Florida Panthers (FS Florida) – 0.25 (Up 8.7%)

Households Watching

1. Pittsburgh Penguins – 93,000 (Up 25.7%)

2. Chicago Blackhawks – 86,000 (Up 132.4%)

3. Detroit Red Wings – 80,000 (Up 3.9%)

4. New York Rangers – 67,000 (Down 17.3%)

5. Philadelphia Flyers – 64,000 (Down 9.9%)

6. Boston Bruins – 53,000 (Down 13.1%)

7. New Jersey Devils – 43,000 (Up 48.3%)

8. Buffalo Sabres – 41,000 (Down 18%)

9. Washington Capitals – 37,000 (Up 48%)

T10. Minnesota Wild – 29,000 (Down 27.5%)

T10. St. Louis Blues – 29,000 (Up 20.8%)

12. San Jose Sharks – 28,000 (Down 20%)

T13. New York Islanders – 27,000 (Up 107.7%)

T13. Los Angeles Kings – 27,000 (Up 50%)

T15. Anaheim Ducks – 24,000 (Up 50%)

T15. Colorado Avalanche – 24,000 (Up 14.3%)

17. Dallas Stars – 19,000 (Up 35.7%)

18. Columbus Blue Jackets – 13,000 (Down 23.5%)

19. Phoenix Coyotes – 12,000 (Up 71.4%)

20. Tampa Bay Lightning – 11,000 (Up 22.2%)

21. Atlanta Thrashers – 8,000 (Up 33.3%)

22. Florida Panthers – 4,000 (Unchanged)



Below, some analysis

Anyone in the entire universe pick the Devils as the team with the most viewers aside from the four original six teams plus Boston & Philly? Probably not. New Jersey might be as popular on TV as it’s ever been. Yet… apparently, not popular enough to justify a damned VERSUS appearance.

Figure the Avalanche to have a much bigger bump next year, for anyone surprised at how low they are. Denver loves a winner, so I’d have to think they’ll be in the 40,000 range next year.

Other teams that will likely boon even further next year: Isles, Kings, Lightning, Caps, Hawks.

Teams likely headed down next season: Minnesota, Anaheim, Columbus, St. Louis

It’s kind of a disturbing discrepancy between the haves and the have nots as far as TV ratings go. Five teams are over 60,000 viewers, while six teams are under 20,000 viewers.