Buffalo Loves NHL Hockey

[Robviously]

They should give us an expansion team soon.

I'm not sure Southern Ontario could support two teams in Buffalo.

[spndnchz]

Would be a great poll. Would you rather proceed with the current eam or start over with an expansion team (Vegas rules apply)?

Would you rather go with the devil you know or a possible devil you don’t?

[LTS]

Didn't we debunk these ratings numbers back in the day as basically meaningless because Buffalo has such a small population compared to the larger markets on the rankings? 

 

It's a measurement factor that is designed to take the size of the market out of the mix.  Relatively speaking, more people in Buffalo watched the NHL playoffs than anywhere else.

 

But how much more is our viewership worth compared to other markets? I assume advertisements running for our eyeballs don't bring nearly as much money to the NHL as in larger markets. 

 

100 people in Buffalo see an advertisement and 10 people in NYC see the same advertisement and the conversion rate is a consistent 10%.  This would mean 10 people in Buffalo signed up and 1 in NYC.  This of course gets kludgy really fast because the next part of the calculation would depend on what the product is we are discussing.  Let's assume for a moment (for simplicity sake) that the product cost to manufacture remains constant.  The cost to ship remains constant.  The next part of the equation would be the cost of inventory.  This would likely be much more expensive in NYC than Buffalo.  Cost of operations similarly more expensive (you pay people to work more in NYC than Buffalo).  Assuming other market factors remaining constant the margin dollars of the product remain the same.  So, the company earns $5 for every widget sold (revenue - costs).  The ad is much more effective in Buffalo because 10 people converted and only 1 in NYC.

 

It may be different with other products but you'd have to factor in the cost of revenue per dollar spent in advertising.  Of course the cost of advertising is set based on the viewership where you can see that Buffalo is the top market and likely driving down the overall cost of advertising.  So, it might be more cost effective for advertisers to target NBC hockey depending on the type of marketing they need to get out.

 

Lots of variables.

 

You'd have to have attendance numbers for the whole league, but I'm not sure this is true. Watched Florida playing the Bruins (a big draw team league wide) when Florida was still alive and that rink was half empty.  Phoenix is certainly struggling, even "hockeytown" had a lot of empty seats this year. Alive and well in some places, but as a league I'm not so sure. 

 

Personally, I think the current playoff format sucks. I think we need more wildcards and less play within the same divisions. Same match-ups gets repetitive. 

 

You are talking about people paying money to go to an arena.  This is people watching and having an interest in the game.  Far fewer people pay to go to a game than watch on TV. 

 

More wildcards?  Should 80% of the league get in?  What would you think is the appropriate cut off?  The reason they aligned the divisions initially is to help strengthen the rivalries.

[Stoner]

Would you rather go with the devil you know or a possible devil you don’t?

If we're an expansion team tell me who the GM is. We never seem to get the George McPhees.

[darksabre]

It's a measurement factor that is designed to take the size of the market out of the mix. Relatively speaking, more people in Buffalo watched the NHL playoffs than anywhere else.

Are you sure? Because I'm not sure. I don't buy that the raw number of people in Buffalo watched more than the raw number of people in any other metro area. I thought that's why it was a percent? Percent of market share?

[Weave]

Are you sure? Because I'm not sure. I don't buy that the raw number of people in Buffalo watched more than the raw number of people in any other metro area. I thought that's why it was a percent? Percent of market share?

 

That is how it takes market size out.  It is a percent of viewers.

[darksabre]

That is how it takes market size out. It is a percent of viewers.

I guess I don't understand what the % actually is. Is it the number of people in each city watching the game as opposed to other tv content, the number of people in a city watching the game vs the city's population, or is it the number of people in each city watching the game vs the total viewership of the game nationally? I always assumed it was the first one.

[Weave]

I guess I don't understand what the % actually is. Is it the number of people in each city watching the game as opposed to other tv content, the number of people in a city watching the game vs the city's population, or is it the number of people in each city watching the game vs the total viewership of the game nationally? I always assumed it was the first one.

My understanding of TV ratings is that it is a percentage of the people watching TV that are watching that specific show/event.

[darksabre]

My understanding of TV ratings is that it is a percentage of the people watching TV that are watching that specific show/event.

So basically it means no one is watching the NHL playoffs then? Because there's no way we should be dominating the percentages.

[Weave]

So basically it means no one is watching the NHL playoffs then? Because there's no way we should be dominating the percentages.

 

It is hockey afterall.  Nationally, noone cares.

[darksabre]

It is hockey afterall. Nationally, noone cares.

We're the Kings of the Wasteland!

[Stoner]

This discussion still seems to be flying blind. What does a ratings point mean? The Sabres averaged a 6.2 rating in 2016-2017. Meaning? (Yeah, I googled it and it keeps going over my head.)

This helps:

 

 

Look for a Program's Rating

That's an estimate of the percentage of the audience watching a particular program. If "Channel 6 News at 6:00" has a household audience rating of 15, that means Nielsen has estimated that 15% of the market's household audience is watching it.

On the flip side, 85% of the audience may be watching another station, cooking supper or at the movies.

A household audience measures homes, not people. So technically, "Channel 6 News at 6:00" is on in 15% of homes -- one person might be watching in one home, four in another. The household measurement doesn't take into account that difference.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-understand-nielsen-tv-ratings-2315476

I guess I don't understand what the % actually is. Is it the number of people in each city watching the game as opposed to other tv content, the number of people in a city watching the game vs the city's population, or is it the number of people in each city watching the game vs the total viewership of the game nationally? I always assumed it was the first one.

I think ratings points represent the percentage of households in a market that are tuned to a particular program. The percentage of all households watching TV is called share.

 

My understanding of TV ratings is that it is a percentage of the people watching TV that are watching that specific show/event.

That's share. (I think.)

[darksabre]

Meaning, where the game was available (locally I assume), the games drew 6.2% of the possible viewership. That's not a lot of people watching the Sabres on MSG. 

So for the NHL playoffs, which are broadcast throughout the US and Canada on NBC and TSN, the market is quite a bit larger. It would seem to me that more people in Buffalo are watching the playoffs this year than they did their own team last year? 

[Stoner]

Meaning, where the game was available (locally I assume), the games drew 6.2% of the possible viewership. That's not a lot of people watching the Sabres on MSG. 

 

So for the NHL playoffs, which are broadcast throughout the US and Canada on NBC and TSN, the market is quite a bit larger. It would seem to me that more people in Buffalo are watching the playoffs this year than they did their own team last year? 

I see the problem now. That 1.75 rating for Buffalo for night one of the playoffs means 1.75% of households in Buffalo were watching, not that 1.75% of households watching nationwide were in Buffalo.

But I agree that if only 6% of households in Buffalo are watching the Sabres, that's not all that impressive.