NHL and PWHL Are Riding a Post-Olympic Wave With Audience Spikes

Following the U.S. men’s and women’s gold medals in Milan, the NHL and PWHL have been hoping to capitalize on the interest, excitement, and huge viewership of Olympic hockey. Returns are coming in.

For the NHL’s restart on Feb. 25, TNT’s broadcast featured a pair of matchups: Maple Leafs at Lightning and Golden Knights at Kings. The games, which included a number of Olympians, averaged 428,000 and 221,000 viewers, respectively, in the U.S. Sunday’s 1 p.m. game between the Golden Knights and Penguins was TNT’s strongest showing, averaging 470,000 viewers. The results, though mixed, are generally positive: Before the break, NHL on TNT had an average audience of 352,000 in 48 games, up 8% from last year.

The biggest headline, though, is the new audiences. TNT’s doubleheader saw 172,000 people tune in who had not previously watched NHL on TNT this season, according to the network.

ESPN also reported solid numbers, with Thursday’s matchup between the Flyers and Rangers drawing 615,000 viewers, despite both teams currently outside the playoff picture. Panthers–Islanders was the second Sunday NHL game on national television this season and registered 668,000 viewers. The two games exceeded NHL on ESPN’s average of 570,000 viewers (excluding Stadium Series) before the Olympic break.

Viewership on ABC was slightly down, with Penguins–Rangers becoming the first game this season on the network to average less than a million viewers (973,000). The matchup did peak at 1.3 million, with the Rangers winning in a shootout. 

In general, NHL viewership is up year-over-year across the networks. Before the Olympic break, games on ESPN and ABC averaged 795,000 viewers (up 39%); TNT is up 6% from its pre-break totals. (Sports ratings in general are up this year thanks to Nielsen’s transition to using Big Data + Panel, which better accounts for viewers across linear and streaming platforms.)

For the PWHL, which returned to action on Feb 26., attendance is the story. 

The Torrent set a new U.S. arena attendance record for women’s hockey Friday, reporting a sellout of 17,335 at Climate Pledge Arena for the team’s game against the Sceptres. The sellout was the first for Seattle, and marked a big increase from the team’s average attendance of 11,234. Hilary Knight, who was placed on long-term injured reserve after playing in the Olympics with a torn MCL, is the captain for Seattle and Team USA.  

Both the Charge and Victoire also announced sellouts this weekend—8,572 fans in Ottawa and 10,172 in Montreal —while a strong 13,264 attended Toronto’s matchup in Vancouver. Overall, since the first week of the season, Feb. 24 and 25 marked the PWHL’s two biggest home-venue ticket sales days. Fans also drove a 101% monthly increase in merchandise sales.