NBC has made multiple changes to their broadcast format to help fans see more actionGETTY IMAGES
NBC's new format for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs has "cut about two minutes of traditional advertising out of the mix" and increased the amount of live action, which has resulted in ratings for the first round to be "up ... from the same period last season," according to Kevin Allen of USA TODAY. NBC Exec Producer & President of Production Sam Flood said, "It will have a long-term positive impact on these playoffs because you have sampled more hockey." Flood and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman prior to the postseason had a conversation that resulted in NBC's 15-second commercial break after an icing call "with the game still visible on one side of a split screen." Meanwhile, staggering game start times has allowed NBC to "plan for the switch to a second game when the period ends." Instead of going to a traditional commercial break, NBC "goes to the side-by-side format with both a commercial and live action showing simultaneously." Flood: "There are so many factors involved, but we do think it's being helpful. It has helped us keep the ratings going in the right direction." Allen notes NBC last Saturday afternoon had two playoff games both start at 3:00pm ET, as it was "regionalizing two games." By starting both games at the same time, the four markets involved "receive their hometown game." All of the changes "were done with the idea of helping fans see more game action" (USA TODAY, 4/25).
BREAKING IT DOWN ON A LOCAL LEVEL: In Pittsburgh, Chris Adamski cited sources as saying the city is "by far the top local market for viewership of the NHL postseason through 12 days of playoff games on TV." Pittsburgh has an average rating of 2.50, which is almost 25% higher than the second-highest rated market Buffalo with 2.02, and is "more than twice as high than all but two U.S. markets (Buffalo and Nashville at 1.63)." Sunday afternoon's Game 6, which saw the Penguins clinch the series over the Flyers on NBC, was the "most-watched game" of the '18 playoffs and the "most-watched afternoon first-round game" since '14 (TRIBLIVE.com, 4/24). In Nashville, Mike Organ reports a "franchise record number of local television viewers watched the Predators win the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday night." The combined rating for the Predators' Game 6 victory over the Avalanche "was an 11.8" on FS South and NBC Sports. That rating "beat the previous record of 10.3, set in game 2 against the Avalanche, for a first or second-round game ever played by the Predators" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/25).
