This week, ESPN presented two exclusive NHL games, the latter of which was broadcast on its streaming service, ESPN+, and Hulu. 98.5 The Sports Hub hosts Rich Shertenlieb and Fred Toucher believe the network have some work to do when it comes to its presentation of the NHL.
While fans in the Boston marketplace and beyond are excited regarding the success of their team after a record-setting regular season last year, some had trouble finding the game. On Friday morning’s edition of Toucher & Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub, co-host Rich Shertenlieb expressed how the Original Six matchup was not prominently displayed on the front screen of the Hulu app, contrasting from how other streaming services market sports properties.
“It’s the opposite of what you do when you’re watching Thursday Night Football,” Shertenlieb said. “Amazon is like, ‘We spent money on this product. Damnit, you’re going to watch it.’ I don’t even think you need to press play when you turn on Amazon. It’s right there.”
In order to find the game on Hulu, Shertenlieb had to type ‘Bruins’ into the search bar, something that Toucher feels is taking away from the growth of the sport. While there is a large slate of programming on Hulu across various genres, prominently featuring the NHL on nights with exclusive games could prompt people to click on it just to see what is going on, and then perhaps become interested in the game later on.
“I didn’t see it on the [Hulu] front page, so I went to ESPN and it was the first thing for me on ESPN,” Toucher said. “I have the ESPN app, but if you are going to have something on Hulu, I understand, and I now think anybody they want watching the games probably has streaming service. They’re not overly interested in you – I apologize if you’re this age – but if you’re in your 60s or 70s or 80s, they’re not overly interested in you; they’re just not.”
In his remarks, Toucher likened the lack of promotion surrounding the property to a “J.V. operation,” claiming that the NHL is missing an opportunity for fans outside of markets with an emphasis on hockey. There have been times when he has become interested in recommended shows because of the algorithm within the streaming service, and pushing the NHL and other live sports in a similar regard could help grow the audience and elicit a greater return on investment.
“At any given point, how many live sporting events are running on Hulu at night? It’s not many, right?,” Shertenlieb presumed. “Let’s say there’s three – wouldn’t you think that [if] you were somebody who ran Hulu, you would have, on the front screen, a portion of it that said, ‘Live sports right now,’ that you could click on?”
Toucher assumed that Hulu does not value the NHL and does not care to advertise it or put significant marketing spend. He also opined that the league should insist on having a banner advertisement and that if no one clicks on it, it will still be good for purposes of exposure.
“They were desperate to get on ESPN is what happened, and they got on ESPN,” Toucher said. “….Disney owns ESPN, ABC, Hulu – all that stuff – and they were so desperate to get on ESPN that they agreed to do this crap. By the way, of all the games, that’s a national showcase game.”
