It’s nothing but click bait. They cherry picked a couple of really bad matchups and are trying to paint the entire viewership because no one wanted to watch a 10:30 PM Eastern start between Seattle and San Jose.
Even within the article they pointed out that the ABC numbers look good.
Quote:
ABC Hockey Saturday Viewership:
Blackhawks-Panthers averaged 723,000 viewers in the opening window, while the Rangers-Bruins drew a season-high 1.1 million viewers in the later window. There was no comparison to last year.
ABC’s season average stands at 888,000 viewers, with three games already surpassing 1 million viewers—compared to just five for the entirety of last season.
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These kinds of things can’t be taken on a game by game basis. Especially in a league where every team plays 82 regular season games. I’d be curious what the overall trend is for viewership on ESPN and TNT.