NESN has sent over this release saying it had the second highest ratings ever for a Bruins game last night. On a night when it went head-to-head against the Celtics, that is very good.
Here is the press release.
NESN RECORDS SECOND HIGHEST BRUINS RATING IN NETWORK HISTORY
BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, earned a 10.2 household rating in the Boston DMA for game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal against the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the second highest Bruins game rating in NESN’s 25 year history behind only the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 7 (11.2).
NESN’s ratings in the key demographic categories also established benchmarks, including an 11.4 for Men 25-54 and an 8.6 for Adults 25-54. The Men 25-54 demo rating was #1 in the Boston DMA on Tuesday night while the Adults 25-54 demo rating was second in the market only to American Idol.
“Our Bruins post-season ratings have been nothing short of phenomenal this year,” said NESN president Sean McGrail. “With nine of the Bruins’ 11 playoff games on NESN, and unparalleled pre and post-game programs surrounding every game, NESN continues to deliver as the home for Boston Bruins hockey.”
NESN will deliver regionally exclusive coverage of game 7 from TD Banknorth Garden on Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 PM. Jack Edwards (play-by-play) and Andy Brickley (color analyst) will handle the call with Naoko Funayama serving as rinkside reporter. NESN’s coverage begins at 7:30 PM with Bruins Face-Off LIVE hosted by Kathryn Tappen who will be joined by Bruins studio analysts Mike Milbury and Barry Pederson.
During the 2009 playoffs, NESN has established new network records for its live game ratings (currently an 8.8), Bruins pregame (currently 2.4) and Bruins postgame programming (currently 2.7). This season’s playoffs have generated NESN 2nd highest (May 12), 4th highest (May 1), 5th highest (April 18) and 6th highest rated (April 16) Bruins telecasts in the network’s history.
Thursday will be NESN’s last Bruins game of the season as Versus and NBC will take over exclusivity in the NHL Conference finals. It’s too bad the leagues won’t allow local broadcasts into the finals so fans can watch their favorite announcers, but it’s all about money and ratings.
UPDATE, 1:11 p.m. – Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch has the ratings breakdown of the Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox on what was a very busy sports night in the New England area last night. Celtics and Bruins were playing at almost the same time. Red Sox had a 10:05 p.m. start. Just take that in mind when you look at the ratings.
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