Local NHL viewership up big thanks to streaming gains, over-the-air shift

Local NHL broadcasts seemingly experienced similar growth to what was seen in the national numbers this regular season.

According to a report by Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal, local regular-season NHL telecasts grew by 15% versus last year thanks to a big uptick in streaming viewership and the transition of some teams to an over-the-air model. Per Karp, viewership from streaming shot up 51% year-over-year for local NHL broadcasts.

Teams that saw the largest increases include the Chicago Blackhawks, which benefited from Comcast finally picking up Chicago Sports Network after a lengthy carriage negotiation, the Anaheim Ducks, which entered its second season on over-the-air television, and the Colorado Avalanche, which had its first full season distributed to Comcast customers in many years.

Playfly Sports CEO Craig Sloan told Sports Business Journal that most teams that have made the transition from traditional regional sports networks to over-the-air broadcast networks have seen over a 50% increase in viewership. “Fans are finding these teams no matter where they’re ending up,” Sloan said.

The gains local broadcasts are seeing mirror what was seen on the national side of things this regular season. In total, national NHL viewership rocketed up 23% versus last season, averaging 546,000 viewers across ESPN, ABC, and TNT/truTV.

It’s not exactly easy to parse out how much of the local gains can be attributed to new distribution models (i.e. streaming, over-the-air), versus hockey simply becoming a more popular viewership sport. Not to mention, a few percentage points in either direction could just be statistical noise.

But one thing is certain, the NHL has some great forward momentum at the moment. Call it an Olympic bump, a Heated Rivalry bump, or just a hockey revival; the NHL will take it however it can get it.