1.35 Million Viewers for the All-Star Game on NBC

The NHL All-Star Game on NBC Sports Network was, like the Skills Competition, down a little bit from last year’s game, but still solid for the network.

NBC Sports drew 1.35 million viewers for the event from Ottawa which found Team Chara victorious, down 12% from last year’s game in Raleigh (1.48 million) but still the second best number that NBCSN/VERSUS have drawn in the five seasons that they’ve televised it. The game drew an 0.8 final HH rating, and an 0.5 rating among adults 18-49, making it the day’s 38th-most watched program on cable.

NBC Sports Network’s All-Star Weekend

Fantasy Draft – 408,000 viewers (-35%)
Skills Competition – 1,104,000 viewers (-7%)
All-Star Game – 1,357,000 viewers (-12%)

All-Star Broadcasts on VERSUS/NBC Sports Net since 2007

2007 – 691,000
2008 – 852,000
2009 – 1,087,000
2011 – 1,481,000
2012 – 1,357,000

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NBC Draws 1.1 Million Viewers For Saturday’s Skills Show

For the second straight year, the NHL’s All-Star Superskills Competition drew a good-sized chunk of the available cable audience.

NBC Sports Network’s coverage of Saturday night’s National Hockey League All-Star Super-skills Competition drew 1.10 million viewers, down a minimal 7% from last year’s event (1.18 million), up 21% from 2009 in Montreal, and the second highest numbers for the Saturday skills showcase in NBCSN/VERSUS history.

This is consistent with the All-Star Game’s 1.0 rating, which was even with last year’s event in Raleigh as well. I hope to have numbers from Sunday available to me soon.

Cornell-RPI Hits NBCSN Friday

ALBANY, N.Y. — NBC Sports Network will showcase a classic ECAC Hockey rivalry Friday, February 3 as No. 14/14 Cornell visits Rensselaer at Houston Field House, in Troy, N.Y.

Friday’s televised game between the Big Red and the Engineers will air live on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) at 7:30 p.m. with the team of Glens Falls, N.Y. native and veteran play-by-play announcer Dave Strader and former NHL All-Star and two-time Stanley Cup champion Ken Hodge pro-

viding commentary. The network reaches more than 75 million homes across the United States.

Cornell currently owns a 59-31-8 all-time record against Rensselaer, includ- ing a 27-18 mark at the Engineers’ home rink.

This will be the third of four ECAC Hockey games featured on NBC Sports Network this season and the second featuring Rensselaer, who was edged by visiting Dartmouth, 4-3 at Houston Field House on January 6.

The fourth and final regular-season league match-up will showcase Dartmouth visiting Ingalls Rink to take on Yale Friday, February 17.

The college hockey telecasts will be produced by the same Emmy Award-winning team that oversees all of the NHL games for the NBC Sports Group, led by Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports.

DATE GAME TIME

Feb. 17 Dartmouth at Yale 7:30 p.m.

NBC Finishes with 1.34 Million for Pens-Caps

Remember that Penguins-Capitals game that may have convinced everyone in the hockey world that Evgeni Malkin was the most ridiculously praise-worthy athlete in the sport at the moment? Well, I know many of you have been asking for final ratings, so here goes nothing.

According to Media Life Magazine, the January 22nd overtime win for the Penguins drew an 0.9 final rating and 1.34 million viewers, finishing eighth for the week among sports broadcasts. As per Sports Media Watch, the game was up 13% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year’s comparable date, but down 10% and 21% from 2010’s comparable date. The NHL on NBC returns a week from Sunday with Capitals-Rangers.

Viewership for NHL on NBC to Date:

November 25
1:00 Detroit vs. Boston – 1.33 million

January 1
3:00 NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia – 3.73 million

January 14
12:30 Chicago vs. Detroit – 1.39 million

January 22
12:30 Washington vs. Pittsburgh – 1.34 million

Sharks Ratings Are Up 51%

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 31, 2012) – Comcast SportsNet California, the home of “Authentic Bay Area Sports,” has registered significant rating increases for its Sharks telecasts during the first half of the 2011-12 NHL season. Through 43 games this season, Comcast SportsNet California is averaging a 1.33 household rating, which is equal to an estimated 33,411 households in the San Francisco DMA (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) watching per game, a 51 percent increase over the .88 average household rating posted at the end of the 2010-11 season.

Ratings in key advertising demographics also registered increased numbers, Adults 18-49 (up 42%), Adults 25-54 (up 42%), Men 18-49 (up 39%) and Men 25-54 (up 32%). Source for all ratings information is provided by Nielsen Media Research.

In addition, Sharks Pregame Live (up 47%) and Sharks Postgame Live (up 7%) have posted rating gains compared to statistics at the end of the 2010-11 season.

On January 5 against Columbus, Comcast SportsNet California delivered the highest rated Sharks regular season game in the history of the network – a 2.22 average household rating with approximately 55,640 households viewing the entire game.