The Power of the Playoffs: The Overlooked NBA and NHL Audience Overlap
Millions of viewers will be glued to their screens beginning April 18th, when both the NBA and NHL postseasons tip off. These fans don’t casually “catch” playoff games. They plan for it. Evenings will be scheduled around matchups. Games will be watched live. From double-overtime thrillers to controversial calls, sports remain appointment viewing in a world where almost nothing else is.
One of the more overlooked elements of playoff advertising is the crossover between leagues.
It’s easy to assume basketball fans watch basketball and hockey fans watch hockey. Our Optimum Smart TV data tells a different story.
76.6% of NHL playoff viewers also watch the NBA playoffs. When our data scientists dug deeper into this exclusive dataset, an even more valuable insight emerged: these are highly engaged fans who actively choose live sports.
So, who are you really reaching with a multi-league playoff buy?
Households tuning in to both the NBA and NHL playoffs tend to be more affluent and highly educated than the average household. They’re also more likely to be making major purchasing decisions.
Compared to the general population, these viewers are more likely to:
Earn $200,000 or more in household income
Hold graduate degrees
Own electric vehicles
Lease vehicles
They also span key age groups, such as 25–34 and 55–64, meaning many of these homes are multigenerational households with real purchasing power.
In short, these playoff audiences aren’t just engaged fans; they are established households actively spending on cars, homes, services, and lifestyles. In a fragmented media landscape, this combination of live viewership, engagement, and purchasing power is increasingly rare and incredibly powerful.
So why does this overlap matter for your business?
The NBA and NHL playoff season is one of the few times each year when reach, engagement, and repetition naturally align. Advertising in both playoffs does more than expand reach; it creates presence and builds frequency among shared NBA/NHL viewing households while capturing incremental viewers who tune into one league but not the other.
Today, those games air across both traditional and streaming TV platforms, giving your message the opportunity to reach fans on the biggest screen in the house, whether they subscribe to cable or stream through connected TV. It’s not about replacing one platform with another. It’s about building a layered approach that mirrors how audiences actually consume content.
When your business invests in both playoff environments, you’re not simply adding impressions. By working with an Optimum Media expert, your business can reinforce its brand presence across a meaningful shared audience of affluent households during some of the year’s most engaged viewing moments.
That’s the power of the playoffs.