Hockey Day in America Does Consistent, Season-High Business For NBC
February 21, 2011 7 Comments
Hockey Day in America turned out to be a relative success for NBC and the NHL, ratings-wise.
An NBC Sports spokesmen tells Puck the Media this afternoon that both the 12:30 PM ET regional window (Philadelphia/NY Rangers, Minnesota/Detroit and Washington/Buffalo) and the 3:30 PM ET national Game of the Week featuring Pittsburgh vs. Chicago drew a 1.2 in the overnights, both season highs for NBC’s coverage of hockey, aside from the Winter Classic. The windows are up 25% from last week’s 12:30 PM ET broadcast of Boston/Detroit, which drew an 0.9 overnight.
There is no comparable date for the NHL on NBC last year, as the network was airing the Olympics that week in 2010. However, two years ago the network aired Penguins/Capitals on the comparable date and drew a 1.1, marking an 8.3% improvement for this year’s broadcast. While it may be a small bump, the fact is that the regional games, doubleheader, later timeslot and general curiosity led to a decent start for the league and network’s new hockey tradition.
Through six telecasts (on five dates) The NHL On NBC is averaging a 1.3 overnight rating.
NHL On NBC Overnights This Season
January 1 – Washington vs. Pittsburgh: 2.8
January 23 – Philadelphia vs. Chicago: 1.1
February 6 – Pittsburgh vs. Washington: 1.0
February 13 – Boston vs. Detroit: 0.9
February 20 – Regional Coverage*: 1.2
February 20 – Pittsburgh vs. Chicago*: 1.2
Season-to-Date Average: 1.3
Puck The Media 
Wow. Great job by NBC. Hopefully that next year they can do these over again during the Regular Season. Can’t wait until next year.
They should just air games on saturday nights.
12:30 ET is way too early of a start time. Even the announcers were saying that the teams looked like it was too early for them as well. Ridiculous especially in the DET/MIN game since the game started at 11:30am Minnesota time.
So 12:30 is too early to start games for NHL, but a mere 30 minutes later 1PM doesn’t get ANY COMPLAINTS from NFL fans as being too early?
12:30 too early is a bit early (is 10:30am for me in Edmonton), but when you compare to some other major sports, it isn’t crazy early like sometimes gets implied.
These are real good numbers for hockey the last two cup finals have given N.B.C. amazing ratings hockey is starting a nice climb on the national stage!!!
What’s the word on the numbers on both sides of the fence for the Heritage?
I’d imagine we’ll know something tomorrow.