NHL sees huge viewership increase during first round

The good times keep rolling for the NHL.

After posting major viewership gains throughout the regular season, the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs saw a nearly 70% increase versus last year’s audience. The first round of the NHL’s postseason averaged 1.2 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, and truTV, according to data released by the networks on Tuesday. Individually, the ESPN networks and TNT Sports networks also averaged 1.2 million viewers per game. It is the highest first-round average on both networks since the NHL’s current media rights deals began during the 2021-22 season.

Compared to last year’s first round, the NHL increased its U.S. television audience by 68%. It should be noted, this is the first Stanley Cup Playoffs to be measured using Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel standard, but the NHL’s increases are far beyond what could solely be attributed to the new methodology.

There are quite a few reasons that likely contribute to the remarkable year-over-year increases. For one, NHL viewership has been up since the United States’ Olympic gold medal win over Canada in February. It’s reasonable to attribute at least part of the NHL’s recent success to an Olympic bump.

Secondly, six out of eight first-round series went at least six games. Naturally, viewership increases as a series goes deeper, and with only two series going fewer than six games, the viewership average was bound to go up. Game 7 of the Canadiens-Lightning series, for instance, averaged 2.3 million viewers, the most-watched first-round game to ever air exclusively on cable. For reference, five of eight first-round series went six-or-more games last season. Add to that, a number of compelling storylines like the Buffalo Sabres returning to the postseason for the first time in 14 years, or the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins facing off after both missing the playoffs last year, and there was plenty to keep fans engaged.

Another narrative that is gaining steam was first broached by Ethan Strauss, who suggested some of the NHL’s success can be attributed to its games all being on traditional linear television, whereas many nights of NBA playoff games have been on Peacock or Prime Video. There’s less competition for the NHL to land a channel surfer under the new NBA media deals.

Whatever the case, the NHL has to be quite pleased with the momentum it has shown in the last couple of months.