Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Media

NBC, NHL Pleased With Stanley Cup Final Ratings, With Local Records Set In Tampa

NBC thus far has "won all three" games of the Stanley Cup Final, as the network and the NHL are "enjoying record U.S. television ratings," according to Anne Steele of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Blackhawks-Lightning "was the most-watched Game 1 in 18 years that did not go into overtime," and Game 2 "did even better" as the most-watched second game of a Stanley Cup Final ever. Steele wonders how a Florida hockey team -- in the nation's 13th largest TV market -- is "helping attract record U.S. viewers to a sport born up north and played on ice." Lightning and Amalie Arena President Steve Griggs said, "People thought with us being a Sun Belt team our ratings would not be strong. I think we've proven otherwise." Media experts said that this sort of "bandwagon following can be expected," particularly in a region where the game is "relatively new." Northwestern Univ. communications professor Jim Webster said, "You've got a hometown team playing for a championship. Everybody loves a winner." The close games "could also help sustain strong audience numbers." Webster said that a closely fought, back-and-forth series could spark a "special kind of interest in the series finale." Steele writes more American viewers watching the series "may mean more fans for the franchise." Webster: "They may develop a taste for ice hockey down in Tampa and be more inclined to view it even when their team's not in the Stanley Cup." Steele notes local ratings "have borne that out." Game 1 "drew a 17.9 rating, the highest ever by a Lightning game on an NBC network" in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market, while Game 2 "drew the second-highest ever rating locally at 15.1" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6/10).

STORM FRONT: NBCSN finished with 3.9 million viewers for the Lightning’s 3-2 win over the Blackhawks in Game 3 on Monday from 8:03-11:06pm ET, marking the cable net’s third-most watched Cup Final game ever. The audience total marks a 34% increase over Kings-Rangers Game 3 last year, which drew 2.9 million viewers. Games 2 and 3 of Blackhawks-Bruins in ’13 are the only two Cup Final matchups on NBCSN to draw more viewers than Monday’s game. Blackhawks-Lightning Game 3 peaked between 10:45-11:00pm with 5.3 million viewers (Josh Carpenter, Staff Writer).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/06/10/Media/NHL-TV.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/06/10/Media/NHL-TV.aspx

CLOSE