SCF ratings continue to drop
Game #5 of the Stanley Cup Finals had another drop in TV ratings both in the US and Canada.
Canadian viewers seemed to give up on the Ottawa Senators before the fifth game of the Stanley Cup final was played on Wednesday. The deciding game of the series drew only 2.163 million viewers, the smallest CBC audience of the final. …
The CBC averaged 2.502 million viewers over the five games (Senators-Anaheim Ducks), down 18 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, from last year’s final (Edmonton Oilers-Carolina Hurricanes, 3.042 million) and the 2004 final (Calgary Flames-Tampa Bay Lighting, 3.735 million). …
The French-language Réseau des Sports averaged 624,000 viewers over the five games, up 12 per cent from last year.
In the United States, NBC’s three telecasts earned the smallest ratings (percentage of households tuned in) for the championship series since 1994, when the NHL started airing games on U.S. network television.
NBC had a national rating of 1.8 for the fifth game, down 28 per cent from the fifth game last year. Over three telecasts, NBC averaged a 1.6, 20 per cent below the 2.0 for the first three telecasts last year and 30 per cent below the 2.3 for the five telecasts in 2006.
NBC’s 2006 ratings ranked as the smallest since 1994.
While this certainly isn’t good news, the NBA has also been experiencing a drop in TV ratings during their postseason as well. Unfortunately, the NHL had lower ratings to begin with so they can’t afford a drop in ratings quite as much as the NBA can. The league is hoping that 22-year-old LeBron James can boost the ratings for the 2007 NBA Finals (Cleveland Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs).
The arrival of James in the championship series raises hopes that the league can begin to reverse the 54 percent decline in television ratings it has suffered since Michael Jordan last appeared in the NBA Finals in 1998.
“It definitely bodes well because now normal people are talking about the NBA Finals,” ESPN basketball analyst and former NBA guard Mark Jackson said. “People now want to see if this guy can raise the stakes and take it to the next level.”
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