NHL rankings plummet once again in week two of the regular season

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Daniel Lucente
October 24, 2024 (11:04)

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The numbers are out for week two of the NHL season, and it appears it continues to get worse, as the viewership numbers have once again dropped.

Numbers are significantly down from last year, which isn't a good trend for the league. The Wednesday regular season game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins averaged a 0.28 rating and 512,000 viewers across TNT and truTV. While this is a 32 percent drop in ratings and 27 percent drop in viewership compared to last year's Penguins-Red Wings matchup, 0.41 rating and 699,000 viewers respectively, it does show improvement over the game between the Flyers and Panthers in 2022, which only averaged a 0.20 rating and 338,000 viewers.

Later that night, the Bruins-Avalanche game had a 0.16 rating and 263,000 viewers on TNT. While complete data for the truTV simulcast isn't quite available, those early numbers show the same trend of slipping audience interest. The decline in viewership for marquee matchups like these shows the problem the NHL is going through to keep their audience, at least in a very crowded sports broadcast landscape.

ESPN didn't fare much better with their games the previous night either. The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues game averaged a 0.21 rating with 417,000 viewers. That represents a decrease of 29 percent in ratings and 24 percent in viewership from last year's game featuring the Lightning and Sabres. The Flyers-Oilers nightcap also saw a big drop, drawing just 333,000 viewers for a sharp 35 percent drop.

In all, all eight NHL games to have aired this season on ESPN and TNT in matchups comparable to last year's are down double digits in both viewership and ratings. Such a blanket decline suggests the league is struggling with fan interest and consumption relative to a year ago.

While there were some scattered improvements versus 2022, this consistent year-over-year decline in viewership of the NHL is cause for alarm. The NHL, with increased competition from other sports and forms of entertainment, needs to find new ways to re-engage its fanbase and grow its ratings. It's time for Gary Bettman to get to work and figure this out.