SHARKSPAGE

Versus/TSN national television numbers for Sharks first round series against LA, NBC’s matinee broadcast of WCSF game 2 a hit in San Jose and Detroit

A partial list of Versus (U.S.) and TSN (Canada) national broadcast numbers for the Sharks first round WCQF playoff series against Los Angeles:

Versus 2011 SJ-LA WCQF:

Game 1, Thu 4/14: 381,000
Game 2, Tue 4/16: 457,000
Game 3, Thu 4/29: 300,000
Game 4, Sat 4/21: 316,000 (JIP)
Game 5, Sat 4/23: 455,000
Game 6, Mon 4/25: 446,000

TSN 2011 SJ-LA WCQF:

Game 1, Thu 4/14: 665,000
Game 3, Tue 4/19: 404,000 (JIP)
Game 4, Thu 4/21: 199,000
Game 5, Sat 4/23: 447,000

Versus and NBC started off the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs with impressive numbers according to Sports Media Watch. Shortly after signing a 10-year contract extension, NBC earned the largest first round playoff broadcast audience in 7 years. Averaging 1.9 million viewers, NBC saw a 12% gain over the first round of the playoffs last season (1.7M), and a 27% gain over the first round in 2009 (1.5M). Regular season numbers were up as well. NBC averaged a 1.0 over 10 regular season broadcasts, up from a 0.9 over 9 regular season broadcasts a year earlier.

Despite being blacked out in local markets for a number of games, Versus experienced a similar growth. Versus, which may be renamed and rebranded as the NBC Sports Channel this summer, saw the highest first round ratings for cable in 8 years averaging 624,000 viewers. The Chicago Blackhawks forcing a series finale in game 6 drew 1.16M viewers for Versus, the biggest first round audience in 8 years.

NBC’s matinee broadcast of the San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings semifinal game 2 on Sunday was flat nationally. It registered a 1.6 overnight, similar to last year’s Montreal-Pittsburgh game 2 according to Austin Karp. Locally, game 2 drew a 14.0/27 in the Detroit market, and a 4.3/14 in the Bay Area market (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose) according to Steve Lepore. “A game featuring a team from California out-drawing Philly-Boston and up against highly-rated NBA programming on ABC? Put a feather in the cap for the folks who think NBC needs to expand their choice of teams next season,” Lepore said. Versus drew a 1.4HH and 1.6HH rating for the first two games of the SJ-DET WCSF last year, 1.45 million and 1.77 million viewers respectively. At the time, it was the most watched semifinal game on cable in 10 years.

TSN numbers for game 2 and 6 are unavailable. Comcast Sportsnet California has not released first round ratings yet, Fox Sports West noted via email that they do not release local playoff ratings.

[Update] According to Steve Lepore, game 1 of the Sharks-Wings WCSF series drew 724,000 viewers on Versus while blacked out in the San Jose and Detroit markets.