Kin
New member
So it's not exactly a secret that these playoffs haven't been watched by many people. The ratings in Canada have been precipitously down following a year of low viewer interest:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/playoff-tv-ratings-down-a-shocking-61-percent-in-canada/
And now we find out that things are bad in the States as well:
Conference Final Ratings at 3 year low
Which has led to stories like this one about the NHL, always willing to do NBC's bidding, shutting down Team viewing parties in the hopes it will boost ratings:
http://deadspin.com/the-nhl-threatened-to-fine-the-lightning-if-they-didnt-1778925655
During the Lockout there was an ongoing claim by people who generally were pro-cap and pro-parity that NHL fans would tune in no matter who was playing so long as the teams were compelling and the play was good. Then, after a long stretch of Cup finals where teams in big US markets did well(Boston, Chicago, NYR) and ratings were strong those people tended to claim that this was proof that parity wasn't an impediment to "real" hockey fans continuing to tune in.
Well, we're a game away from a San Jose-Tampa Bay finals. I think it's pretty fair to say that ratings will be precipitously low. Sportsnet is firing people and almost certainly losing money on the deal they signed for the national rights to the game.
A lot of people have taken to blaming the studio shows themselves and, to be fair, I think the studio shows are generally awful. Bland, charismatic less ex-players and executives shouting platitudes and cliches in between trying to run profiles on bland and largely charismatic less players.
But let's be real. We're starting to get a really good picture of just how misguided the idea that the NHL could ever really be like the NFL and build a national(and international) interest in the sport itself rather than a regional interest in local teams was. Interest isn't picking up as series go along because there's very little to suggest that the matchups are becoming more compelling. Tampa-San Jose wouldn't be two teams markedly better than St. Louis-Chicago or Pittsburgh-Washington. Resultingly, casual fans could not be more tuned out to what's going on.
This is all despite the fact that the NHL has still gotten relatively fortunate in terms of who's moved on. Pittsburgh is still a draw. San Jose and St. Louis aren't great but they're better than having to try and sell Arizona or Nashville. What if the final four were Ottawa-Columbus-Arizona-Anaheim?
So where does the league go from here? How do you try to grow interest in the game beyond these regional fan borders. The Cap has essentially ruled out doing so via a truly great team driving interest. Judging from activity on this board, and we're all pretty nuts about hockey, interest in the semi-finals is pretty low. I genuinely don't care who wins the cup at this point. So what's the League's, and by extension, the Networks' next move?
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/playoff-tv-ratings-down-a-shocking-61-percent-in-canada/
And now we find out that things are bad in the States as well:
Conference Final Ratings at 3 year low
Which has led to stories like this one about the NHL, always willing to do NBC's bidding, shutting down Team viewing parties in the hopes it will boost ratings:
http://deadspin.com/the-nhl-threatened-to-fine-the-lightning-if-they-didnt-1778925655
During the Lockout there was an ongoing claim by people who generally were pro-cap and pro-parity that NHL fans would tune in no matter who was playing so long as the teams were compelling and the play was good. Then, after a long stretch of Cup finals where teams in big US markets did well(Boston, Chicago, NYR) and ratings were strong those people tended to claim that this was proof that parity wasn't an impediment to "real" hockey fans continuing to tune in.
Well, we're a game away from a San Jose-Tampa Bay finals. I think it's pretty fair to say that ratings will be precipitously low. Sportsnet is firing people and almost certainly losing money on the deal they signed for the national rights to the game.
A lot of people have taken to blaming the studio shows themselves and, to be fair, I think the studio shows are generally awful. Bland, charismatic less ex-players and executives shouting platitudes and cliches in between trying to run profiles on bland and largely charismatic less players.
But let's be real. We're starting to get a really good picture of just how misguided the idea that the NHL could ever really be like the NFL and build a national(and international) interest in the sport itself rather than a regional interest in local teams was. Interest isn't picking up as series go along because there's very little to suggest that the matchups are becoming more compelling. Tampa-San Jose wouldn't be two teams markedly better than St. Louis-Chicago or Pittsburgh-Washington. Resultingly, casual fans could not be more tuned out to what's going on.
This is all despite the fact that the NHL has still gotten relatively fortunate in terms of who's moved on. Pittsburgh is still a draw. San Jose and St. Louis aren't great but they're better than having to try and sell Arizona or Nashville. What if the final four were Ottawa-Columbus-Arizona-Anaheim?
So where does the league go from here? How do you try to grow interest in the game beyond these regional fan borders. The Cap has essentially ruled out doing so via a truly great team driving interest. Judging from activity on this board, and we're all pretty nuts about hockey, interest in the semi-finals is pretty low. I genuinely don't care who wins the cup at this point. So what's the League's, and by extension, the Networks' next move?