By: Joe Koch
October 22, 2024
Photo Credit: NHL and Amazon Prime
With the NHL season kicking off this past week, we also saw a new docuseries, Faceoff on Prime Video, highlighting superstars from the 2024 NHL Playoffs. The six-episode series looks into the lives of stars like William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins, and Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers. The 2024 Playoffs became the most-watched in history, averaging 8.8 million viewers across the U.S. and Canada during the Stanley Cup Finals. (Sports Pro Media)
One of the main reasons for creating a documentary from the league's perspective is to increase the NHL’s marketing efforts. By offering an inside look into the daily lives of highly followed NHL stars, the documentary helps drive a narrative that supports the league’s goal to expand the NHL brand as a whole. With new broadcasting deals with ESPN and TNT, the league has seen incremental growth within the past two years gaining more followers, as last year saw an 8% increase in viewership on both cable and streaming coverages for ESPN, TNT, and ABC (Sport Video Group). However, many fans voiced concerns about not seeing players' personalities in any interviews. Even in one of the episodes, Leon Draistaitl of the Edmonton Oilers stated that he and Connor McDavid were “boring” to the media. The NHL was behind on the standard of player-driven storytelling compared to other leagues, which helped drive the new series aimed at better-connecting fans with players.
Professional sporting leagues create new opportunities for one another, and the recent new docuseries has been an absolute hit. With the success of series like Formula 1's "Drive to Survive" and the NFL's "Quarterback," and now the NBA's "Starting 5," it's likely we'll see annual releases in various sports, driving more content and attracting casual fans along the way.
In addition to the docuseries, this will be the first year of Amazon Prime’s Monday Night Hockey. Every week, there will be an NHL game nationally streamed on Prime Video. Amazon has seen success with its coverage of the NFL's Thursday Night Football, so we are now seeing the company wanting to get more involved with yet another professional sport.
Being able to relive the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Florida Panthers winning, the NHL looks forward to one of the most anticipated seasons yet that just kicked off earlier this month. The docuseries had immediate success and looks forward to another exciting year of hockey.
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