National League on TV: pleasing results so far and look ahead to the 2022/2023 playoffs

National League content reaches millions of viewers

Last year, MySports and the National League, together with partner channels that have a keen interest in ice hockey, established a new free-TV broadcasting model with the aim of permanently increasing the visibility of the National League throughout Switzerland. Compared to the previous broadcasting approach, more partners with a greater presence on free TV are now involved in broadcasting live games and highlights of the National League. The first viewer figures that are now available (from the start of the season up to February 20) show that the new broadcasting model has had a successful launch. On TV24 alone, the National League programs reached a total of 1.4 million[2] viewers and 7.5 million[3] contacts. Regular live games and broadcasts of all the highlights by the two other free-TV partners Léman Bleu and Teleticino, as well as the growing number of MySports customers, have generated lots of additional contacts. During the regular season, the free TV partners TV24, Léman Bleu and Teleticino broadcast over 400 hours of live coverage of the National League in cooperation with MySports. In addition to this, there has been coverage on SRG SSR channels (highlights shown under secondary usage rights).

In addition, National League content has been expanded to digital platforms. Thanks to the partnership with Blick.ch and the increased scope for clubs to post highlights on their own social-media channels, either during a game or shortly after it ends, a broad, young audience in the online sphere has been reached. Blick registered 1.8 million[4] views for the 18 live National League games and 2.5[5] million views for the highlight clips leading up to February 20.

Denis Vaucher, CEO of the National League: "The fact that we can demonstrate the success of the new broadcasting concept after such a short period of time speaks volumes for the model we’ve chosen and is very pleasing. The launch went well and spurs us on down the path we’ve selected and to continue inspiring more people to enjoy the game of ice hockey in an innovative way."

Matthias Krieb, Head of MySports: "We’re really proud that the MySports ice-hockey content that we produce with such great passion is being so well received by viewers. The new broadcasting concept for the National League has broken some of the old rules and opened up a variety of new possibilities for clubs, the league and partners. We’re now incredibly excited to broadcast all the playoff games to the fans with the very best quality."

2022/2023 playoffs

Starting on March 7, the final phase of the season will start with the pre-playoffs. The ultimate battle to claim the title of «Swiss Champion 2023» begins with the first playoff quarter-final game on March 14. Over the coming weeks, MySports will devote its schedule entirely to the pre-playoffs, playoffs and the play-out final with its possible league qualification and will be discussing and analyzing the games extensively with numerous experts, players and hockey legends. By spreading each of the four quarter-final and two semi-final series across two different evenings (rounds one to four), this year fans will be able to watch more playoff ice hockey on TV with MySports than ever before. Up to 35 game days are scheduled, and MySports will be broadcasting each of up to 69 games live, including up to 50 games exclusively on pay TV. Games will also be shown regularly on free TV: TV24/3+ in German-speaking Switzerland, Léman Bleu in French-speaking Switzerland and Teleticino in Ticino will show up to 19 live games on free TV, including all the games from the final series.

All games start at 20:00. The game-day highlights will be broadcast on MySports, TV24 and Léman Bleu every evening from 22:15. Teleticino will show the highlights each day as part of its sports coverage and on its app. Individual highlight clips will also continue to be available on all game days at Blick.ch.

Follow the playoffs from anywhere

With the new MySports app, all playoff games can also be viewed live on a mobile phone, laptop or tablet. If fans specify their favorite team in the app, they will be able to follow that team’s performance, thanks to (live) statistics. The app is available on the following platforms: iOS mobile, Android, Apple TV, Android TV and the Web and costs CHF 25.– per month as a subscription or CHF 9.– per day (day pass).

Press Release (pdf)

Sunrise

Media Relations

media@sunrise.net

0800 333 000

1 & 2 Source: Mediapulse TV Data (Instar Analytics), D-CH, persons 3+ incl. guests, TV24, 16.09.2022–20.02.2023, live National League games 2022/23 incl. studio & highlight formats, Coverage-T (Reach), all platforms, Overnight+7, data as of: 20.02.2023, Hi-Res: 06.02.2023.

3 Source: Mediapulse TV Data (Instar Analytics), D-CH, persons 3+ incl. guests, TV24, 16.09.2022–20.02.2023, live National League games 2022/23 incl. studio & highlight formats, gross contacts (NRw-T [total]), all platforms, Overnight+7, data as of: 20.02.2023, Hi-Res: 06.02.2023.

4 & 5 Source: Google Analytics, blick.ch.