Rangers TV Rating up 187%!?!?!?!?
MSG has announced that the Rangers television ratings are up a ridiculous 187 percent...
"Through 11 games on MSG or MSG+, Rangers telecasts have averaged a 1.95 Nielsen household rating, up 187% compared to the first 11 games of the 2011-12 regular season (0.68 HH) and up 97% compared to the 2011-12 season final average (0.99 HH)."
It was also announced that starting tonight after the Rangers/Islanders matchup, MSG Network is extending its post game coverage an additional half hour with “Rangers Extra,” a new 30-minute show that will be added to MSG’s post game schedule for the rest of the regular season.
...so much for everyone's declarations during the lockout that they were done with the sport. As I noted during the lockout, there was no way I was punishing myself by not watching games if they came back and it looks like you guys had the same idea.
...loving the additional half hour of post game coverage as well. At least, I'll be loving it after wins. After losses? Not so much.
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I would believe that viewership of this blog is up at least that...so many more comments than last year...nice work Kevin and crew
1. high expectations. slated very high before the season started.
2. i think people are tuning in more as opposed to going to games.
3. they also have a sweetheart season set up for them schedule wise, player wise, injury wise and a shortened season that will help heal up from blocked shots. this all boils down to high expectations i guess.
4. what other sports are on? don't say basketball.
@IcyCup I think all of those things put more eyes on the games. Two other big things though:
1. Nash is a friggin monster who is flat out fun to watch. I know this contributes to the high expectations you mentioned, but even separately it's easy to get sucked into waiting for his next vicious beast play.
2. Anytime we come back from a lockout, I'm always extra amped and more diligent about watching as many games as possible. I love hockey, but for more casual fans I would guess the normal season length reduces the draw of early season games. I think season length is just one of several reasons that football has such a huge fan base and nobody watches the first couple hundred games of the baseball season (exaggeration, I know).
TV ratings mean nothing. They are purely used to attract advertising dollars and are based on estimates of the viewing habits of the sample households they use. Plus, they don't take into account bar viewership or other areas of group viewership. It's good to see them moving up, but it's pretty useless for making any assumptions. Your blog is a much better indicator of how many people are paying attention to the Rangers!
@gravey94 You should have seen the traffic on this blog in the playoffs last year. Obscene.
Might have something to do with us folks in the Albany area who just got MSG2 on time warner and can finally watch games instead of them being blacked out for the sabres lol
I know its not the right section, but did not know where to post. When do the Rangers have to decide on JT? Tonight, or just before the game on Sunday?
While these are great numbers, and it's nice that they're improving, the Pittsburgh Penguins are still averaging more viewers than the Rangers. Not many more (They average almost a 15.0 in Pitt, NYR are a 1.95 in NY) And the NY-area has about 6 times as many tv-homes as the Pittsburgh area, and Pittsburgh still manages to attract more viewers. Just think about that, 15 PERCENT of the Pittsburgh area watches EVERY Penguins regular season game. The Rangers couldn't even pull 15% of the NY area for playoff games. Obviously the NY area is MUCH bigger but there is still more work to be done if they want to expand the fanbase.
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@YesIAm What else is there to even do in Pittsburgh? Thats all they got there during the season. And obvi 15% of pitt is not even close to 15% of nyc, 15% of NYC is prob the same as the entire pitt area.
@MichaelArdi @YesIAm Yep. NYC metro population was 22M in 2010, Pitt was 2M. So based on those numbers, Rangers actually have 50% more viewers that Pitt. Then again, TV ratings are garbage so none of this means anything...LOL!
