NHL Ratings For the Top 10 US Markets

What you’re going to see is each of the Top 10 Markets in the US, what rating the game did in that market, and where it ranked for primetime in the market that night.  Then you’ll see the rating from 11-11:15 PM for OT and the winner, and where it ranked.  All numbers courtesy of PIFeedback.

#1 New York
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 4.7/7 (#5)
11:00-11:15 PM – 6.5/12 (#2)

#2 Los Angeles
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 2.3/5 (#8)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 3.7/7 (#4)

#3 Chicago
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 30.6/47 (#2)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 46.0/66 (#1)

#4 Philadelphia
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 25.9/36 (#2)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 29.5/46 (#1)

#5 Dallas
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 2.4/4 (#8)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 3.4/6 (#4)

#6 San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 2.0/5 (T#10)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 3.5/7 (#4)

#7 Boston
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 4.8/8 (#6)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 6.8/15 (#1)

#8 Atlanta
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 2.9/5 (#8)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 3.6/6 (#7)

#9 Washington DC
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 4.0/7 (#5)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 6.2/11 (#2)

#10 Houston
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 1.7/3 (#12)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 2.5/4 (#10)

Other Markets:

#11 Detroit
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 5.7/9 (#2)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 10.8/18 (#1)

#14 Tampa/St. Petersburg
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 2.7/5 (#5)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 4.1/8 (#4)

#15 Minneapolis/St. Paul
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 5.3/10 (#4)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 10.3/19 (#1)

#25 Indianapolis
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 5.9/9 (#6)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 8.2/15 (#2)

#64 Fort Myers/Naples
8:00 – 11:00 PM – 5.6/9 (#5)
11:00 – 11:15 PM – 8.4/19 (#1) 

Looking For a Different Gift For the Hawks Fan in Your Life?

Get these t-shirts.  They’re really cool, and only $10 from RIPT Apparel.  Check ’em out.

Game Draws 7.5 Million, 2.9 in Adults 18-49 During Primetime

These numbers won’t be complete until we know how the 11-11:30 PM half-hour did (and was likely the half-hour to put the NHL in the record books) but this is what we know for now.  The game peaked in primetime with 9.6 million viewers and a 3.9 in the demo.

More coming.

The Press Release Confirms It: Highest Rated NHL Game Since 1974

NEW YORK – June 10, 2010 – Last night’s series-clinching Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers registered a 5.8/10 overnight rating (8:15-11:15 p.m. ET), the best overnight for any Stanley Cup Final game in 36 years (7.6/27, Boston-Philadelphia, Game 6, 1974 on NBC).

The rating peaked for the final 15 minutes of the game (11-11:15 p.m. ET) with an 8.0 rating and 14 share. The 5.8 overnight is up 41 percent vs. last year’s 4.1/7 overnight for Game 6 between the then-defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins, featuring Sidney Crosby.

In last night’s game, the Blackhawks defeated the Flyers, 4-3, on a goal by Patrick Kane 4:06 into overtime to give Chicago its first Stanley Cup since 1961, ending the NHL’s longest championship drought.

TOP 10 MARKETS

1. Chicago 32.8/50

2. Philadelphia 26.8/38

3. Buffalo 13.5/20

4. Pittsburgh 9.7/14

T5. Detroit 6.3/10

T5. Indianapolis 6.3/10

7. Fort Myers 6.1/10

8. Minneapolis 5.9/11

9. Las Vegas 5.7/9

10. Boston 5.1/9

Local Ratings Huge For Game 6, Likely Highest-Rated Nationally Since 1974

As if you expected anything different.  1 in 2 TV’s turned on in Chicago were watching the Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup, and 2 of 3 watched Patrick Kane’s OT winner.

Game 6 drew a 32.8/50 share, drawing 1.14 million Chicago-area households.  It scored a 26.8/38 in the Philadelphia market.  Both the #3 and #4 markets in the United States turned out to be big winners in a game that will go down as the NHL’s highest rated since NBC’s broadcast of Game 6 between the Flyers and Bruins in 1974, which drew a 7.6/27 rating.

Top 10 Markets for Game 6, Stanley Cup Final:

1. Chicago – 32.8/50
2. Philadelphia – 26.8/38
3. Buffalo – 13.5/20
4. Pittsburgh – 9.7/14
5. Detroit – 6.3/10
6. Indianapolis – 6.3/10
7. Fort Myers – 6.1/10
8. Minneapolis – 5.9/11
9. Las Vegas – 5.7/9
10. Boston – 5.1/9

Three Different Ways Of Doing It

UPDATE: And #3

BREAKING: Game 6 Likely Highest Rated NHL Overnight in 37 Years

A win for the ages for Chicago Blackhawk fans will likely go down as a game for the ages for the NHL.

Game #6 between the Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers, won by Chicago on a bizarre Overtime goal by Patrick Kane, scored a hockey-massive 5.7/10 overnight rating, likely making it the highest rated National Hockey League game in 37 years, breaking a mark that last year’s Penguins/Red Wings Game 7 set.  This is perhaps the highest-rated game on record, and the first time I’ve ever seen a 10-share associated with an NHL game.

The game peaked from 11-11:30PM with a terrific 7.1/13.  The game finished in 2nd place overall in the ratings from 8-10PM, while the lowest rated half-hour was 8PM again, with a 4.3/8, topping almost every half-hour of Game 1.  The game averaged a 6.6/11 in the 10PM hour, winning that particular timeslot, before coming up with the huge 7.1 rating after 11PM.  The telecast ended at 11:30 PM.  The game scored a total 5.5/9 in primetime.

Overall, the game was up 30% from last year’s Game 6 (a 4.4/7).  Overnights from Game 7 of last year’s record-setting Penguins/Red Wings game are unavailable.  Numbers are preliminary, but all indications from the metered markets are that this game will break that game’s ratings, as the game drew a final rating of 4.2 and 7.9 million viewers, and the ratings for Devils/Mighty Ducks in ’03 (4.6, 7.1 million viewers) to become the highest-rated hockey game since 1973.

There’ll be more later.  You can bet on it.  Even in my wildest imaginations I couldn’t have drawn this figure up.  This is going to be a very good day for our sport.

A Sad (But Not in a JR Way) Morning Music Breakdown

Good morning.  I always get a little bit teary-eyed when I read that only 17 teams have won the Stanley Cup.  Only eight teams have won it more times than the Devils, and I saw every one of those victories in my lifetime.  It is a very good life.  Those Chicago fans, some of them waited 49 years.  Some of them waited much less, and some of them hung around in a purgatory of the middle of that.  If I’d been born a Blackhawk fan, this would’ve been my first.  If I’d been born a Flyer fan, I’d still be waiting.

But the season’s over now.  We’re all left looking for other things to occupy our time.  Some of us will watch the World Cup.  Some of us will tide over to football with baseball (most likely for me).  But on October 7th, if not sooner for the awards and the draft and the schedule release day, all of us will return to hockey.  That’s what we do.  That’s why we’re here.  To enjoy a silly game of men with sticks and gloves chasing a little rubber disc until Patrick Kane wins it in Game 6 at 4:10 from Brian Campbell, past Michael Leighton to take Lord Stanley’s Cup.

That’s our quest as hockey fans, players, sons, fathers, mothers, daughters, friends and rivals.  That’s all we want.  The chase to try and get it begins again today.

Have a good summer.  Stick with me for the ratings news today, if you like.  Puck the Media will be off, or potentially in a guest editor week next week.  I’ll be back for the week leading up to the schedule release, awards show and draft, where I’ll probably whine about VERSUS doing no original coverage of the event.  Then… well, there will be some time to think about all this and figure out what the rest of the summer will be like for me.  If your ride with me ends here, thank you.  If you’re sticking with me till the end of the month, thank you double.

Congratulations Chicago.  Congratulations Philly.  Congratulations hockey.  You had a good year, all things considered.