People were watching Wings-Leafs
When compared with other sports on television, the numbers remain miniscule. That's understood, and might never change. But the NHL is beaming this morning because of the opening night ratings on VERSUS. Maybe there was some traction from the entertaining Wings-Penguins Stanley Cup Final. VERSUS earned its best opening night ratings ever for Thursday's double-header featuring the Wings against Toronto and Boston at Colorado. The Wings-Leafs game was the most-watched regular-season game ever on VERSUS among households (360,944) and total viewers (572,897. Locally, Detroit had a 4.0 rating making VERSUS the top rated cable network in the market for the 7-9:45 p.m. time period. VERSUS was the fourth highest-rated network overall in Detroit, behind ABC, NBC and CBS, respectively. The numbers are small comparatively speaking to the NFL, MLB and college football. But it's a step in the right direction.
