Get rid of the annoying moving adds along the boards
SillyMikey
Make it easy to watch games. If someone needs to subscribe to 2 different cable channels and a subscription service just to follow all games, you will keep losing viewers.
miscs75
Put more games on TV instead of resorting to steaming services.
LaughingAtNonsense
Who knew blackouts and endless betting ads would be so unpopular. Oh wait..
samtony234
“legal” viewership is down. Can’t find a legal way to watch it, so watch it some other way.
drooln92
Not surprising. So many games blacked out. After a while, casual viewers get turned off. Even hardcore fans get frustrated. NHL puts all kinds of barriers to watch games instead of making it easy and growing the fan base.
djv1nc3
Yeah blackout regional games will do that.
BlerdAngel
This is literally due to blackouts that shits gotten wild and like I thought it couldn’t get worse
Chipmunk-Adventurous
Like, they MUST be aware that regional blackouts is the reason?
ricky-robie
Stop making me juggle between 8 different streaming services and apps for games, putting ads on every square inch of available space, and turning the sport into a giant vessel for sports gambling, and maybe I’ll watch more.
Accurate_Fee710
I can’t watch my games either, it’s a big problem. I’m forced to watch highlights from reddit lol
Ok_Ant707
What a garbage stat. A game that started at 1:30 PM local time on a Tuesday had lower viewers than a playoff semi-finals game of a different sport in prime time. Ok?
OkBee3867
It’s absolutely a barrier to entry thing. There’s a lot of legacy fans who are tired of being fleeced every season just to watch their hockey team after work, maybe twice a week. Not to mention how potential new fans are completely deflected away when they see how they need to dedicate time just to figure out how they’re going to watch a sport they’re not even sure if they like yet! I have to imagine there will be some change in management sooner or later that understands what the internet is, and with that, things will get better. Until then, this will be the status quo.
TernoftheArctic
Rangers have had 3 games. All on different sites. What’s a pain.
Equivalent_Dig_5059
I’ve been pirating every single game because it’s impossible to watch hockey
Jot that down Gary
KimJohnChill
I’ve watched more hockey than ever with espn+ – RSN’s do suck though
shootsy2457
I expect more blackouts and other roadblocks to keep people from watching hockey to come. That seems to be Gary’s strategy. Smart guy that he is.
Ok_Hope2164
Pirate online
AJPennypacker39
So far the blues have been on 3 different apps thru 4 games, all of which require different subscriptions. Sports broadcasting needs to catch up to cable cutting
AbbreviationsOk9962
I would argue that the NHL more than most sports has made it such a cluster f*ck to stream games with the nonsensical regional blackouts, that it’s more difficult to collect accurate viewership than other sports. So many have sought “alternate means” to watch games that cannot be accounted for. Moreover I am sure than blackouts come at the expense of viewership
Comet_Empire
Maybe if the NHL invested more into the fans and not the owners things might improve. Gambling, digital ads, ads on uniforms, multiple subs needed to watch even just 1/2 the games cause the rest are blacked out. None of these improves the enjoyment for fans just the pockets of owners. The owners will never dump Gary cause while he has shrunk viewership he has increased owner revenue. The old less for more model of business.
V4refugee
Dumb stat. I’m a diehard panthers fan and even I had to miss the Tuesday early afternoon game because it’s a fucking Tuesday early afternoon game. Some of us have jobs.
wutang21412141
Live in New York and can’t even watch Rangers games 🙁
usernametakenahhhh
Stop blacking out games on channels I pay for. Why do I have five TSN channels if I can only watch games on one of them!!!
OneAndDone169
They’ve made it impossible to watch the fucking games!
OlTommyBombadil
The easiest way to watch is pirating and the in-game ads are hostile toward the viewer, this should not come as a surprise.
Arcade23
Let’s see. Blackouts, betting ads, social issues discussed in between periods instead of focusing on the sport itself (CBC/Sportsnet). Games broadcasting on a certain streaming platform one night, this channel another night, that streaming platform on another etc. Which may ultimately end up costing you $200 a month just to watch every game. Then you’ve got the option of going with something like IPTV for $15 a month, or free online websites. I wonder what people are going to do.
gentleman_bronco
Maybe making the games harder to watch has a negative impact on viewership??
BBQAddictDrew
1) Fix blackout issues 2) Make it easier to watch games. (I feel like I’m one degree away from having to subscribe to the history channel for certain games) 3) Watching a game is becoming commercial the whole time with all the moving ads 4) Market the league/players better or get new partnerships that will. I saw Caitlin Clark’s name everywhere last year. Do that with McDavid or Bedard 5) Anything else to make it less obvious that you’re greedy instead of acting like you have no idea why viewership is down
Canadian__Ninja
NHL doesn’t want it’s fans watching the games so viewing numbers barely count.
Milestailsprowe
Wnba and MLB are post season. The wnba has never been more hype and better.
Things should be better by the time those end.
mattcojo2
Clearly nobody actually read the article. Those are not blacked out . They are nationally televised games.
People didn’t watch those games bc they occurred on a Tuesday, starting mid day and I don’t recall seeing them advertised.
Plus, baseball playoffs occurred same day.
It’s a matter of both circumstance as well as poor choices.
Valuable-Baked
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!
CalebsNailSpa
If there was a reliable and easy way to watch my team, I would pay the NHL.
But there isn’t, so I pay for a good VPN.
rcher87
Besides the challenge of watching games, can we also admit that maybe people like watching playoff sports instead of early season sports?
I don’t think the WNBA/NHL crossover is huge, but I’m sure there are people who don’t realize hockey has even started and are busy watching the WNBA and/or MLB playoffs.
35 Comments
Get rid of the annoying moving adds along the boards
Make it easy to watch games. If someone needs to subscribe to 2 different cable channels and a subscription service just to follow all games, you will keep losing viewers.
Put more games on TV instead of resorting to steaming services.
Who knew blackouts and endless betting ads would be so unpopular. Oh wait..
“legal” viewership is down. Can’t find a legal way to watch it, so watch it some other way.
Not surprising. So many games blacked out. After a while, casual viewers get turned off. Even hardcore fans get frustrated. NHL puts all kinds of barriers to watch games instead of making it easy and growing the fan base.
Yeah blackout regional games will do that.
This is literally due to blackouts that shits gotten wild and like I thought it couldn’t get worse
Like, they MUST be aware that regional blackouts is the reason?
Stop making me juggle between 8 different streaming services and apps for games, putting ads on every square inch of available space, and turning the sport into a giant vessel for sports gambling, and maybe I’ll watch more.
I can’t watch my games either, it’s a big problem. I’m forced to watch highlights from reddit lol
What a garbage stat. A game that started at 1:30 PM local time on a Tuesday had lower viewers than a playoff semi-finals game of a different sport in prime time. Ok?
It’s absolutely a barrier to entry thing. There’s a lot of legacy fans who are tired of being fleeced every season just to watch their hockey team after work, maybe twice a week. Not to mention how potential new fans are completely deflected away when they see how they need to dedicate time just to figure out how they’re going to watch a sport they’re not even sure if they like yet! I have to imagine there will be some change in management sooner or later that understands what the internet is, and with that, things will get better. Until then, this will be the status quo.
Rangers have had 3 games. All on different sites. What’s a pain.
I’ve been pirating every single game because it’s impossible to watch hockey
Jot that down Gary
I’ve watched more hockey than ever with espn+ – RSN’s do suck though
I expect more blackouts and other roadblocks to keep people from watching hockey to come. That seems to be Gary’s strategy. Smart guy that he is.
Pirate online
So far the blues have been on 3 different apps thru 4 games, all of which require different subscriptions. Sports broadcasting needs to catch up to cable cutting
I would argue that the NHL more than most sports has made it such a cluster f*ck to stream games with the nonsensical regional blackouts, that it’s more difficult to collect accurate viewership than other sports. So many have sought “alternate means” to watch games that cannot be accounted for. Moreover I am sure than blackouts come at the expense of viewership
Maybe if the NHL invested more into the fans and not the owners things might improve. Gambling, digital ads, ads on uniforms, multiple subs needed to watch even just 1/2 the games cause the rest are blacked out. None of these improves the enjoyment for fans just the pockets of owners. The owners will never dump Gary cause while he has shrunk viewership he has increased owner revenue. The old less for more model of business.
Dumb stat. I’m a diehard panthers fan and even I had to miss the Tuesday early afternoon game because it’s a fucking Tuesday early afternoon game. Some of us have jobs.
Live in New York and can’t even watch Rangers games 🙁
Stop blacking out games on channels I pay for. Why do I have five TSN channels if I can only watch games on one of them!!!
They’ve made it impossible to watch the fucking games!
The easiest way to watch is pirating and the in-game ads are hostile toward the viewer, this should not come as a surprise.
Let’s see. Blackouts, betting ads, social issues discussed in between periods instead of focusing on the sport itself (CBC/Sportsnet). Games broadcasting on a certain streaming platform one night, this channel another night, that streaming platform on another etc. Which may ultimately end up costing you $200 a month just to watch every game. Then you’ve got the option of going with something like IPTV for $15 a month, or free online websites. I wonder what people are going to do.
Maybe making the games harder to watch has a negative impact on viewership??
1) Fix blackout issues
2) Make it easier to watch games. (I feel like I’m one degree away from having to subscribe to the history channel for certain games)
3) Watching a game is becoming commercial the whole time with all the moving ads
4) Market the league/players better or get new partnerships that will. I saw Caitlin Clark’s name everywhere last year. Do that with McDavid or Bedard
5) Anything else to make it less obvious that you’re greedy instead of acting like you have no idea why viewership is down
NHL doesn’t want it’s fans watching the games so viewing numbers barely count.
Wnba and MLB are post season. The wnba has never been more hype and better.
Things should be better by the time those end.
Clearly nobody actually read the article. Those are not blacked out . They are nationally televised games.
People didn’t watch those games bc they occurred on a Tuesday, starting mid day and I don’t recall seeing them advertised.
Plus, baseball playoffs occurred same day.
It’s a matter of both circumstance as well as poor choices.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!
If there was a reliable and easy way to watch my team, I would pay the NHL.
But there isn’t, so I pay for a good VPN.
Besides the challenge of watching games, can we also admit that maybe people like watching playoff sports instead of early season sports?
I don’t think the WNBA/NHL crossover is huge, but I’m sure there are people who don’t realize hockey has even started and are busy watching the WNBA and/or MLB playoffs.