The Malik Report
NBC confirms that Sunday’s Red Wings-Hawks game was 2nd-most viewed NBC game ever
by George Malik on 03/05/13 at 04:15 PM ET
Comments (5)
Wowzers, from the NHL and NBC Sports:
SUNDAY’S NHL COVERAGE SCORES RECORD RATINGS FOR NBC AND NBC SPORTS NETWORK
Blackhawks-Red Wings Earns 1.6 Overnight, Best Ever for Single-Game Regular-Season Coverage on NBC, Excluding Winter Classics
Canadiens-Bruins Draws 813,000 Viewers, Best Ever for Sunday Night Regular-Season Game on NBC Sports Network
Boston & Chicago Set Local Ratings Records
NEW YORK – March 5, 2013 – Sunday’s NHL coverage of two competitive games, which featured the Chicago Blackhawks victory over the Detroit Red Wings on NBC, and the Montreal Canadiens win versus the Boston Bruins on NBC Sports Network, resulted in the former setting a regular-season overnight ratings record for single-game coverage, excluding Winter Classics, and the latter posting a viewership record for Sunday night telecasts. The records continue a trend for the 2013 NHL season, as NBC Sports Group’s NHL coverage has set numerous ratings and viewership marks this season.
BLACKHAWKS-RED WINGS
NBC’s coverage of the Chicago Blackhawks dramatic 2-1 shootout victory against the Detroit Red Wings (12:30-3:15 p.m. ET) resulted in a 1.6 overnight rating, the best-ever for a single regular-season game (excluding Winter Classics) and up 60% vs. last year’s same-weekend coverage (1.0, Bos-NYR). The Blackhawks extended their season-starting point streak to 22 straight games with the win. Final ratings and viewership will be available later this week.
Locally, the Chicago market delivered a 9.7 rating, the market’s best-ever for a NHL regular-season game on NBC, with the exception of the 2009 Winter Classic, which was played at Wrigley Field -- also between the Blackhawks and Red Wings -- and drew an 11.8 rating in Chicago.
CANADIENS-BRUINS
NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday night averaged 813,000 viewers, making it:
- the most-watched Sunday night regular-season game in the network’s history*;
- the most-watched regular-season game featuring a Canadian team on cable in nearly 13 years;
- the fifth-most watched NHL regular-season game overall on NBC Sports Network.
The previous Sunday night record was 664,000 viewers for a game last year between the Bruins and Rangers (4/1/12). Sunday night’s game, which posted a 0.47 U.S. household rating, surpassed the Wednesday Night Rivalry contest played between the same two teams on Feb. 6 (771,000) of this year. Canadiens-Bruins is the most-watched game involving a Canadian team in NBC Sports Network history and on cable in nearly 13 years (12/27/00, ESPN2, Tor-Pit, 1.046 million).
In Boston, the market delivered a 9.26 HH rating, its best-ever rating for a regular-season Bruins game on NBC Sports Network, which was the No. 1-rated network in Boston during the game.
Following are the most-watched NHL regular-season games in NBC Sports Network history. Five of the top six are from the 2013 season:
DATE GAME VIEWERS
Jan. 23, 2013 Boston-N.Y. Rangers 956,000
Feb. 20, 2013 Philadelphia-Pittsburgh 901,000
Oct. 6, 2011 Philadelphia-Boston 874,000
Jan. 30, 2013 Chicago-Minnesota 827,000
Mar. 3, 2013 Montreal-Boston 813,000
Feb. 6, 2013 Boston-Montreal771,000
*NBC Sports Network was previously known as VERSUS (2006-2011) and OLN before that.
PROGRAMMING NOTE
The NBC Sports Network will allow NHL fans to follow the Chicago Blackhawks point streak by altering its programming schedule tonight. The network will join the Blackhawks game against the Minnesota Wild in progress (except in the home markets), following the completion of the regularly-scheduled Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers game.
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Comments
Back on March 17, 2001 an XFL game had “the lowest rating for a prime-time program on one of the four major networks” EVER (at that time).
It did a 1.6 rating.
Posted by Garth on 03/05/13 at 05:11 PM ET
Back on March 17, 2001 an XFL game had “the lowest rating for a prime-time program on one of the four major networks” EVER (at that time).
It did a 1.6 rating.
Posted by Garth on 03/05/13 at 04:11 PM ET
Ooofff…. I love hockey but the NHL is constantly putting lipstick on a pig.
Posted by Vladimir16 from Grand River Valley on 03/05/13 at 05:22 PM ET
That’s like saying Belle Isle had the most seagulls ever on a random Friday.
The game was pretty boring with the exception of the 3rd period. No hitting. No offense for 2 periods. Broken plays and shots from the outside. EWwww. What a joke.
Posted by statelouis26 from Detroit, MI on 03/05/13 at 05:43 PM ET
... and just 48 short hours later, some time today, I was finally able to watch it online.
48 hour blackout.
THANKS, NHL!
Posted by RedMenace from aboard the Crazy Train on 03/05/13 at 08:15 PM ET
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The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.
The lede is buried. It is:
‘Most viewed ever NHL regular season game gets beat on same day by Celebrity Apprentice and Bob’s Burgers.’
No, really. It did.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 03/05/13 at 05:03 PM ET