However, the Rangers not only missed the playoffs on the final day of the season, they also lost their title of the most watched team on US local television (to Pittsburgh). The Penguins, Red Wings and Blackhawks all were watched by more households than the Rangers.
Rating
08-09 09-10 Change
Rangers 1.09 0.89 -18.3%
Devils 0.39 0.58 48.7%
Isles 0.18 0.36 100.0%
Households
08-09 09-10 Change
Rangers 81000 67000 -17.3%
Devils 29000 43000 48.3%
Isles 13000 27000 107.7%
While the Rangers are still the most-highlly rated team in town, the difference narrowed considerably:
In 2008-09, the Rangers rating was nearly double the Isles/Devils combined; Nearly twice as many households watched the Rangers as the Isles and Devils combined.
In 2009-10, the Rangers rating was still the highest, but more fans watched the Isles/Devils combined than watched the Rangers. Additionally the combined households watching Devils and Isles were more than the households watching the Rangers.
(There is no further description of these numbers, such as telecasts. I'm not sure, but the MSG-2 and MSG+-2 cames may be excluded from these calculations.)
(from sports business journal)
Complete list here: http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/your-final-nhl-local-tv-ratings-and-viewership-rankings-in-the-us/
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
The only value here is if we know the dramatic effect games on Msg+2/Msg2 have on lowering ratings.
ReplyDeleteIsles had eighteen games scheduled for Msg+2 which is a lot of their season while Devils have several games on prime Msg but have for very questionable reasons been bumped for anything during playoffs to date.
Put the Rangers on Msg+2 or switch their games on no notice like we see with Isles/Devils we likely see the opposite.
This also does not address the problem of team centric programming which contains nothing for the New York Islanders when games are not being played.