The television ratings for the Stanley Cup playoffs continue to weigh in the United States with a huge presence of Canadian teams.
Playoff Games on ESPN networks have average 886,000 viewers, which is 28 percent below the previous year’s records through two rounds. Meanwhile, TNT Sports has seen a 19 percent decline for 882,000 spectators, as per the Nielsen rating cited by Sports Media Watch.
In the second round of sports, 1.2 million viewers on each platform in the second round, on average, 1.6 million on ESPN and below 1.5 million on TNT sports last year.
The Dallas stars will meet Edmonton Oilrs in the final game 1 of the Western Conference on Wednesday, while Florida Panthers took a 1-0 lead on the Carolina storm.
While the remaining three teams are from the United States, three of the eight teams reaching the second round were from Canada. For the first time since 2004, it was marked that there was at least one Canadian team in the three seconds-round series.
This year is believed to have been considered an important factor in low ratings this year, including 21 of the first 34 matches in TNT Games involving a Canadian team. ESPN and TNT only broadcast American audiences.
ABC on Saturday set a new record for the current media rights deal with an average of 2.27 million viewers in Game 6 of the Dallas-Vinnipag series. And the Sunday game between Florida and Toronto was 1.9 million during the 7 TNT and the Trutv, for the game 7 between Edmonton and Vancouver at ESPN from 1.66 million last year.
NHL has separate media rights deals in Canada, and he reported that the ratings in both countries were up to 12 percent for the second round. According to the League, the second round of sports in Canada had an average of 2.2 million viewers for 45 percent.
-Bield level media
