Since acquiring the NHL television rights a few years ago, ESPN has done a shoddy job of marketing the league. Although the network has received criticism from many fans, its latest viewing figures are just embarrassing.
The numbers compared to the number of viewers for last year’s Stanley Cup Final in the first two games are, according to ESPN, utterly humiliating.
That’s accurate, there were 1.6 million fewer viewers for the first two games this year. Truly awful for ESPN and the NHL.
4 million people watched the first two games of last year’s Stanley Cup Final, or an average of 2 million people per night. This year, just the first two games drew 2.6 million viewers, or an average of 1.3 million people per night.
What caused the league’s biggest event of the year to lose 700,000 viewers per night? One popular hypothesis is that the competition itself is the reason people don’t watch.
The success of the Vegas Golden Knights has angered many NHL fans, who see the franchise as an orphan of the league they are so eager to promote. On the other hand, the Florida team plays in a small area and has a small fan base, so it seems reasonable that they wouldn’t attract a lot of viewers.
How can the NHL address this obvious problem?