NHL puts player personalities at centre of fan growth push
Marketing chief Sean Eggert is using off-ice profiles and creator partnerships to reach viewers drawn to hockey by television dramas.
The NHL is giving players more room to show who they are away from the rink as it tries to keep newcomers interested in hockey. Sean Eggert, the league’s senior executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, outlined the approach in an interview with ESPN published Monday.
ESPN reported that NHL research attributed nearly 1.8 million first-time viewers last season to people who had watched the hockey-themed shows Heated Rivalry or Off Campus. The league also measured a 30 per cent increase in television viewers aged 18 to 34 following February’s Winter Olympics, according to the report. Those figures are the NHL’s estimates as relayed by ESPN.
One part of the approach is NHL In Focus, a six-part series of portraits and profiles that presents players outside a game setting. ESPN reported that its first instalment brought Cole Caufield, Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer together at a diner during the league’s media tour in Las Vegas. Eggert told ESPN that a stronger connection with players as people could help convert curiosity about hockey into lasting interest.
League executives also told ESPN they intend to work with authors, illustrators and online creators whose audiences follow hockey romance stories. The effort extends the NHL’s marketing beyond game highlights and traditional sports channels while keeping its existing fans in view.
