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This in, news that Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers broke viewership records for Sportsnet and ESPN in Canada and the USA.
Broadcast Dialogue reports that in Canada the game was “Sportsnet’s most-watched broadcast ever with an average minute audience of 7.55 million across Sportsnet, Citytv and CBC, according to Numeris data released by Rogers Sports & Media.:
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The broadcast was also “the second most-watched NHL game ever in Canada (behind the Vancouver Canucks’ Game 7 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins in 2011), based on data collected since 2009. Last night’s broadcast reached 15 million Canadians or 39% of the population. It additionally set a record as the most-watched program ever on Sportsnet+, reaching 1.93 million streamers.”
In the USA, SportsMedia Watch reports that in the US market Game 7 “delivered one of the top NHL audiences of the past 30. Monday’s Panthers-Oilers NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 7 averaged 7.66 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest NHL audience since the previous Cup Final Game 7 five years ago, Blues-Bruins on NBC (8.72M) and the most-watched NHL game ever on the ESPN networks, which did not air NHL games between 2005-21.
“Including Canadian viewership on CBC, SportsNet and TVAS, Game 7 averaged 16.3 million viewers — the second-largest combined audience for an NHL game (dating back to 2004) behind Bruins-Canucks in ’11.”
The Hollywood Reporter adds in regards to Game 7 2024: “It’s also the biggest tune-in for ever for a Stanley Cup Finals not involving one of the league’s original six teams (Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, the New York Rangers and Toronto). Viewing peaked at 10.3 million viewers for the closing minutes of the game.”
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Said Bob Stauffer, host of Oilers Now, “It resonated. It was a big deal in the States.”
Former NHL GM Brian Lawton said on Stauffer’s show that Edmonton impressed the hockey world in the Stanley Cup Final. “When I look at the city of Edmonton, I can tell you for a fact that it blew people away around the National Hockey League, the amount of support that the fans gave this club. This team was breaking records in so many different ways. Edmonton is traditionally considered a small market team, but man they behaved like a big market team in this run. It was impressive to watch.”
My take
1. These numbers are excellent news for the NHL’s broadcast partners Sportsnet and ESPN. They’re also good news for the Oilers, demonstrating the pull of a team that has hockey superstars, and also indicating to those players that the marketing opportunities that flow out of such massive attention can come their way even if they play in a smaller, remote city like Edmonton. If the Oilers flourish, they’ll get plenty of opportunity. That doesn’t mean more money couldn’t be made if they played in larger cities, so long as they were on Stanley Cup contenders. But it does mean being a successful Edmonton Oiler will bring plenty of attention.
2. Some Canada-based fans believe there’s a conspiracy for the NHL to favour USA-based teams in order to sell the game there. But these numbers show that an inspiring and exciting team like the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl Era Oilers can also stir up massive interest in the USA, which runs counter to the narrative of that particular conspiracy theory.
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Source link : https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/game-7-edmonton-oilers-vs-florida-panthers-breaks-broadcast-records-in-canada-and-usa
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Publish date : 2024-06-25 23:11:15
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