Penguins set for five-peat atop local NHL ratings

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/02/24/Media.aspx

By John Ourand & David BroughtonStaff WritersPittsburgh is once again on top in the local TV ratings race among NHL clubs.

Penguins games on Root Sports were averaging a 7.67 rating this season for the team’s games played prior to the Olympic break. It’s an average that’s tops in the league by far and puts the Penguins on pace to have the NHL’s highest local rating for the fifth straight season, as the team completes another strong campaign on the ice, as well. 

Pittsburgh’s ratings on Root Sports match its success on the ice. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

Pittsburgh sits atop the Eastern Conference standings as NHL clubs return to regular-season play this week following the Olympics.

While the 7.67 average is down from Pittsburgh’s record-setting 12.56 average set during last year’s lockout-shortened season, it’s up 1 percent from the comparable number of games played by the team in the 2011-12 season, the NHL’s last full season.

Typically, ratings rise substantially during a condensed season, such as the NHL’s last year.

The league’s biggest average local TV audience for games has come in Chicago, where Blackhawks games are averaging a league-high 159,000 homes this season. In the 2007-08 season, when CSN Chicago did not carry any of the team’s home games, the Blackhawks averaged just 22,000 homes.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota Wild games on FS North are averaging a 2.98 rating, which marks the team’s highest local rating since the 2008-09 season.

On the other side of the coin, the New Jersey Devils are averaging their lowest local TV rating since the 2005-06 season. The team’s 0.16 rating at the break is the NHL’s lowest so far this season.

Miami continues to be an abysmal TV market for the NHL. The Florida Panthers went into the break tied for the third-lowest point total leaguewide on the ice, and the team’s TV audiences have been similarly small. An average of only 4,000 homes are watching Panthers games on FS Florida this season. That’s a number that’s stayed consistently low since the 2008-09 season and is at the bottom among all teams locally across not only the NHL but also the NBA and MLB, according to SportsBusinsess Journal research.

Columbus also is proving to be a tough TV market, despite the local team being in the playoff hunt. Blue Jackets games on FS Ohio are averaging only 6,000 fans per game in the Columbus market.

It’s been a down year in Philadelphia as well, where a poor start on the ice for the Flyers cost coach Peter Laviolette his job. The team has rebounded in the standings, but the 1.89 average rating for Flyers games on CSN Philadelphia is still down 43 percent from the same point in 2011-12. Flyers telecasts also have dropped an average of 44,000 homes per game since that season.