The NHL continues to sell out games and draw people into the arenas on game night, yet they continue to lose viewers on television. One might ask how they continue to bring in so many people to the games.
After sub-par ratings in last year’s NHL finals on NBC, I thought the league was doomed. But, they have partnered with Google Video and YouTube to offer video of their games.
On YouTube the NHL has created their own channel where you can access daily updates from around the league including game recaps like this one from the allstar game.
As with YouTube you can access game footage on Google videos, actuall the entire game. They have licensed a number old game footage to Google allowing people to view them in their entirety.
The NBA has followed suit after their tv ratings have continued to drop over the last few seasons. Is this the future of sports marketing? I hope so, the ability to watch the sports I like whenever I want and not when ESPN tells me to is a great thing. I guess that goes towards the me first society I have been raised in, but I like it.