| | Associated Press
NEW YORK -- The NHL finally produced major-league numbers
for ABC, with the best hockey ratings in 20 years.
The Dallas Stars' 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils in
triple overtime in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, which ended at
1:13 a.m. ET Friday, earned a 4.2 national rating and a 9 share,
Nielsen Media Research reported.
It is the top rating for a hockey game since May 24, 1980, when
Game 6 of the finals between the New York Islanders and
Philadelphia Flyers pulled in a 4.4 with a 17 share on CBS.
Fox received a 4.0 for Game 1 of the 1997 finals between
Philadelphia and the Detroit Red Wings.
The 4.2 also represents an increase of 20 percent over the 3.5
rating that Fox earned for its coverage of last year's Game 5
between Dallas and the Buffalo Sabres.
ABC's final national numbers did go down from the overnight
rating of 5.3/10, which was an increase of 47 percent over Fox's
3.6 overnight rating for 1999's fifth game.
Each rating point represents 1 percent of the country's TV
households, and overnight numbers are based on a reading of the
largest markets -- the disparity between the national and overnight
ratings in this case indicate that the game drew the bulk of its
viewers from larger cities.
The final numbers certainly were boosted by the teams' local
fans: Dallas produced a 22.4 rating, New York a 7.6.
Today, Nielsen estimates there are 100.8 million TV homes; in
1980, that figure was 76.3 million. The share is the percentage of
in-use televisions that are tuned to a given program.
While Game 5 drew impressively for a hockey game, it did not
approach the ratings that events like the World Series, NBA Finals
or "Monday Night Football" garner.
Mike Modano's goal 6:21 into the third overtime pulled Dallas
within 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. ABC will show Game 6 on
Saturday night, with Game 7, if necessary, on Monday.
It was the fourth-longest Stanley Cup finals game ever and,
early in the third overtime, became the longest scoreless finals
game.
The rating is a boost for the network, which had averaged 2.8
nationally for its broadcasts of Games 3 and 4 (ESPN showed the
first two games of the finals). That represented an 18 percent
decline from the 3.4 Fox averaged for its first two Stanley Cup
finals broadcasts in 1999.
Now, ABC's finals-to-date boast a 3.5 average, 0.1 better than
Fox did with its first three games last year.
The numbers also probably make ABC feel a bit better about
pulling its ratings bonanza "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" off
Thursday night's schedule because of the game's 8 p.m. ET start
time.
The Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC and the ESPN networks, anted
up $600 million in August for a five-year deal with the NHL. ABC's
broadcast rights are costing about double what Fox's did.
"We don't want to overanalyze an individual rating," ABC
Sports vice president Mark Mandel said, "we're just encouraged
that last night's game has gotten so much buzz." | |
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