More Good News For the NHL
April 16, 2010 1 Comment
NEW YORK (April 16, 2010) – The positive business momentum for the NHL continues after a record-breaking 2009-10 season. Through the first two days of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the League has earned triple-digit percentage increases in video starts and mobile consumption, while unique visitors and page views on NHL.com have shown double digit percentage increases over last year, further validation of the League’s digital strategy. The NHL on VERSUS is also off to a fast start with record ratings and increases for opening night of the postseason.
DIGITAL STRATEGY PAYS DIVIDENDS
The NHL continues to engage and connect with more fans than ever on its digital platforms and the first two days of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs have accelerated that trend.Some highlights:
· Video starts on NHL.com increased by 108 percent over the first two days of the postseason in 2009
· Unique Visitors to NHL.com are up 20 percent over last year
· Page Views on NHL.com are up 20 percent
· Mobile page views are up 174 percentSome of the markets showing significant growth through the first two days of the Playoffs in terms of unique visitors:
· Phoenix (+110 percent)
· Buffalo (+90 percent)
· Denver (+74 percent)
· Boston (+55 percent)
· **Seattle (+36 percent)
· *Dallas-Ft. Worth (+30 percent)
· Detroit (+25 percent)
· Montreal (+24 percent)
· Washington D.C. (+21 percent)
· Vancouver (+15 percent)
· Philadelphia (+15 percent)
· *Atlanta (+13 percent)Notes:
*Team did not make the postseason
**Non-NHL market
OPENING NIGHT SETS RECORD FOR VERSUS
VERSUS earned a .5 National HH rating and averaged 478,000 viewers for its triple-header night of action to open the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 14, making it the most-watched opening night of the postseason on cable since 2004. The HH rating and average viewership was up 25 percent and 22 percent, respectively, compared to VERSUS’ first night of last year’s Quarterfinals coverage (.4 HH rating and 392,000 viewers). Wednesday’s opening night telecasts were also the most-watched among Men 18-49 and Men 25-54 on cable since 2002. This record-breaking night was garnered without the advantage of the team markets as VERSUS’ Quarterfinals coverage is non-exclusive and blacked out locally.
INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT INCREASES
The start of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs drove a record number of downloads of NHL Ice Time 2010, the League’s official app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that is distributed outside of North America. It remains among the top-five sports apps sold on iTunes in 20 countries outside of North America. As further evidence of fan interest in the NHL outside North America, unique visitors to NHL.com from Russia have increased by 88 percent and from Finland by 65 percent.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NHL’S RECORD-BREAKING BUSINESS SUCCESS IN 2009-10
· Corporate sponsorship was up 20 percent
· New League partners this season include Geico, Starwood Hotels, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, LG Electronics and Hershey’s Canada
· Ad spending on NHL® media increased by 37 percent over last season
· Revenue from big event platforms, led by the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic®, are up 22 percent over last season
· Unique visitors to NHL.com surpassed last year’s record by 32 percent
· NHL.com attracted a single-day record 1.6 million unique visitors on Sunday, April 11 – besting last season’s regular season final day by 54 percent
· NHL Game Center Live™ subscriptions were up 25 percent
· Sales at SHOP.NHL.com were up 12 percent from last year’s record
· Viewership for NBC’s Game of the Week telecasts were up 13 percent
· Ratings for exclusive telecasts on Versus were up 20 percent
· NHL Mobile™ reached 1.6 million page views, an increase of 233 percent over last season
About stevelepore
The unique visitors stat for Montreal got me to wondering whether the NHL has any sort of French site. So I looked, and it doesn’t appear to. In fact, from what I could tell, they don’t have any pages in any language other than English.
I work partially in the translation business, and I can tell you that it’s not cheap or quick to translate something as extensive as the NHL site. That said, the CFL (not anywhere near as large a business as the NHL and also with only one franchise in Quebec – although 1 out of 8 rather than 1 out of 30, I grant you) manages to do it. Kinda sad that if you search Google for “LNH”, you get directed to the English homepage of the NHL.