NHL Viewership Remains High

The 2023-2024 NHL season is officially at the halfway point. With that, viewership remains up double digits vs. last year, as the league is averaging 477,000 viewers across the networks of ESPN and TNT, an increase of 27% compared to the same point last season (377K).

A total of 42 games have been nationally broadcast as we head into tonight’s TNT doubleheader. Of the 42 games, 26 of them have been broadcast by TNT, with an average viewership of 431,000 viewers, which is an increase of 31% vs. the same point last season (328K). TNT is currently on pace for its best season yet in the television deal, as viewership is also up 5% vs. the same point in the 2021-2022 season (410K). For the 2021–2022 season, TNT had only aired 15 games at this point, as for many weeks the network aired single, late-night games due to the wrestling show, AEW, still airing on the network on Wednesday nights. Unlike the first season of the contract, TNT has since aired several non-exclusive games since the network increased the number of games it airs in a season. As a result, those games made TNT’s viewership take a hit last season. The 12 non-exclusive games last year only averaged a total of 266,000 viewers, and an even lower 209,000 viewers when compared to the same point of the season currently. This year, the numbers for the non-exclusive games have by no means been outstanding, but there has been an increase, as through seven of them, the network has averaged 301,000 viewers. In addition, despite there being a record-low viewership for this year’s Winter Classic, TNT remains on record pace for its NHL viewership.

On the ESPN side, the network is averaging 576,000 viewers through 15 games. This is an increase of 49% compared to the 2022–2023 season, in which ESPN averaged 386,000 viewers through 16 games. A key factor that should be noted is that last season, ESPN aired multiple NHL games on Sundays during the NFL season, which obviously performed miserably, as those six games averaged just 232,000 viewers. Compared to the 2021–2022 season, ESPN aired just five games at this point, which obviously led them to have an inflated average viewership number of 673,000 viewers. Originally, when the TV deal was signed, ESPN and ABC only agreed to air 25 NHL games on linear, and the rest would go to ESPN+ and Hulu as exclusives. For the 2021–2022 season, this was essentially the case, as ESPN aired just 18 games, ABC aired 10, and ESPN+ and Hulu had a combined 75 exclusive games. ESPN would abolish this model for the 2022–2023 season and for the foreseeable future, as now it is a 50/50 split of games on linear and streaming. ESPN would air 35 games, ABC would air 15, and ESPN+ and Hulu would stream around 50 games. With the abundance of games now added to the network’s linear lineup, there was obviously a drop in viewership, but this season, ESPN is nearly as high as it was in the 2021–2022 season, even with having tripled the number of games on the network at this point.

Here are the viewership averages at this point in the season for each of the three seasons in this current television deal:

This Saturday, the NHL’s schedule on ABC begins with the Rangers and Capitals at 1:00 p.m. ET, and this will be the first of an all-time high 19 games on the network. Last season, ABC saw a hefty increase in viewership of 1,100,000 viewers, which was a 19% increase vs. the 2021-2022 season average. The increase could mostly be accounted for better matchups, in terms of viewership, along with the introduction of doubleheaders and a tripleheader. For more analysis of the NHL on ABC landscape, there is an entire article dedicated to the schedule here.

Currently, the NHL has solidified itself in a good position for the television market. Viewership growth continues to be seen on the ESPN and TNT networks, along with the league seeing an all-time viewership high on cable for opening night this season. Whatever you may see on social media or a website, let me leave you with my genuine thoughts and analysis. The NHL has a bright future and is currently in an amazing television deal that is widening the audience for the league. After this season, we will already be halfway through this current rights deal, but if there is one thing for certain, it is that there will certainly be an increase in the rights fee for the league.