Versus Nets 50% Viewership Surge With NHL Playoffs
Opening-Round Coverage Also Delivering Strong Demo Gains
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 4/24/2009 1:35:01 PM
After a strong scoring regular-season with the Nielsens, Versus is skating quickly among viewers with its opening- round coverage of the National Hockey League playoffs.
Versus, over 16 games through April 22, averaged a 0.4 rating, a 33% rise from 0.3 mark during the corresponding period in the NHL's 2008 post-season, according to Nielsen Media Research.
All told, the Comcast-owned service delivered 449,379 viewers on average, a 50% jump from 300,033 through 16 opening-round contests last year.
On the demo front, the competition channel registered a 39% gain among men 18 to 49 and a 52% advance among guys 25 to 54, according to Versus officials.
Thus far, Versus' top mark came from its coverage of the first game of the Chicago Blackhawks-Calgary Flames series on April 16. Joined in progress, the overtime contest, captured by Chicago, 3-2, averaged a 0.6 rating and 583,274 viewers.
At a minimum, Versus will televise 50 playoff games, depending on how the series break, with exclusivity skating in during the conference finals. Over 52 quarterfinal, semifinals, conference finals and a pair of Stanley Cup Finals games in 2008, Versus saw a 50% increase to a 0.6 average and a 58% surge in viewership to 661,669 viewers.
During its 56-game regular-season game coverage, Versus recorded a 21% increase in viewership to 329,794 from 272,417 in the 2007-08 season, according to Nielsen data. Officials said the network reached 32.9 million total viewers, its most-ever with the NHL, and improved its delivery among men 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 by 51%, 43% and 41%, respectively.
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The only problem with having the playoffs on one channel is that a network like NBC will never cover all of the games. In Canada, even CBC splits games with TSN. In the first two rounds, the U.S. regional networks have exclusivity within their teams' regions, so the Versus deal is the best that the league could get. Even when the NHL was on the almighty ESPN, they had to share coverage with the regional nets and ABC.
Bob B. - 4/25/2009 2:06:05 AM EDT -
It's good to see the NHL finally getting some eyeballs on the games, but Gary Bettman is a nitwit and more promotion is needed on Versus to give the game an extra boost, no matter the fanbase. I just don't like this idiotic idea of the NHL splitting the coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals between NBC and Versus. This is a premiere event that needs to be have ALL the games televised on ONE network, which should be NBC. This is another idiotic idea of Garyy Bettman's.
Richard - 4/24/2009 4:09:58 PM EDT -
I'm happy to see the continued increase in Versus viewship for the NHL. They have done a decent job covering the games and promoting them.
However, I am dissapointed in their reporting of their demographic changes as they continue to leave out the female demograhic which makes up a large part of the NHL viewing fan base.
What are the FEMALE demographic numbers Versus? Or do you think we don't exist?
Dee Karl - 4/24/2009 3:11:13 PM EDT
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