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Round 2 of the Blues’ television test is set to be administered Saturday night, and results of the first offering are stout.

For the first time in 16 seasons, the team placed one of its locally produced telecasts on over-the-air TV when Gray Media stations KMOV (Channel 4) and Matrix Midwest (Channel 32) carried the club’s game against Winnipeg on Feb. 22. That led to the Blues’ second-best-rated telecast of the season, as viewership-tracking firm Nielsen said the contest was seen on those outlets in 4.4% of the market. The vast majority (4.2%) saw it on KMOV, while Matrix was at just 0.2%.

“We are ecstatic about the total viewership,� said JD Sosnoff, who runs Gray’s St. Louis operations.

Their only bigger overall rating for a Blues contest this season has come for a novelty act, when TNT and TruTV carried the Blues-Blackhawks matchup in the Winter Classic contest played outdoors on New Year’s Eve, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. That telecast drew a combined 5.3 rating.

While certainly not approaching the viewership levels of the Kansas City Chiefs (the worst rating they had in St. Louis for any of their 18 televised games in the recently completed season was 11.7), the combined number KMOV/Matrix drew was strong.

The rating for the Winnipeg contest doubled what the team’s 49 telecasts on cable’s FanDuel ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Network had been averaging (2.2) through the recent NHL break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. And it was significantly better than the 3 rating the Blues averaged the last time they had local telecasts on broadcast TV, in the 2008-09 season.

The combined viewership level for the game rose to 6.1 for the final 15 minutes of the contest, in which the Blues allowed the Jets to tie it 3-3 with a goal in the final minute of regulation play before Winnipeg won it in a shootout.

“The total amount of viewers is a clear indication of the tremendous fan desire to have broad and easy access to their favorite hockey team and they are looking forward to more,� Sosnoff said.

Two more to go

That was the first of three Blues locally produced games this season to be shown over the air (No. 2 is at 7 p.m. Saturday, when KMOV and Matrix air their road contest against Los Angeles) instead of the club’s usual TV home, FanDuel ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Network.

The Blues are using the Gray stations as an experiment to gauge how much interest there is among their fans for over-the-air games in this age of dwindling viewership for cable regional sports networks such as FanDuel, which is not carried on some major programming distributors.

The Winnipeg game was produced by FanDuel and its personnel were used on and off the air, and it was streamed by Victory+. That will be the case for the two remaining Gray contests this season. The finale is on March 25 but only on Matrix.

“We were pleased with the fan response to the debut of the slate of games we’ve made available on Gray Media and Victory+ and look forward to gaining additional insights from the viewership around Saturday’s game and the finale of the package later this month,� Blues chief revenue and marketing officer Steve Chapman said in a statement. “As is typical for us, we have seen increased engagement across our media platforms as the season has progressed and we hope to build on that down the stretch.�

Victory+ did not announce its viewership figures but promises to eventually discuss audience sizes.

“We are pleased at the traction we have received for the first� of its games, Victory+ chief operating officer Jason Walsh said.

Old is gold

Several notable viewership statistics emerged from the over-the-air telecast, as the audience skewed heavily to older demographics. Nielsen breaks down those who are watching into many age-specific ranges and reports the 50-and-older crowd tuned in at the highest rate, 5.9%. The worst rating (1.3) came from those ages 18-34.

Nielsen also tabulates viewership by gender, and the numbers were dominated by older men.

The top-rated group among men was among those 50 and older (7.7), with the worst figure coming for those 18-34 (1.4).

Among women, the 50-and-over crowd led the way (4.3), while the 18-34 bracket was at the bottom (1.2).

Because streaming audiences usually are more youthful that those of broadcast TV, it is likely that when Victory+ numbers become available they will be stronger among younger viewers than were the figures for the Gray stations.

“I don’t read anything into it,� Sosnoff said of the demographics. “... This was one regular-season hockey game in the middle of the season and it successfully delivered across all demos, especially considering it was the first locally broadcast game in 16 years.�

He also did not express concern that Matrix Midwest, which developed a sports presence when it added Mizzou football non-game programming in August and has been building its athletics programming lineup since then, drew just under 5% of the audience while long-established KMOV pulled in more than 95% of those watching.

“Matrix Midwest is seven months old and has exceeded our expectations already,� Sosnoff said. “Since its inception, it has delivered local programs from the Blues to Mizzou, City SC to MVC basketball, local sports programs like ‘The Fight with Randy Karraker’ and much more. It’s just getting started and its rapid growth shows that there is a tremendous desire for local sports programming on broadcast TV.�

Saturday slant

FanDuel regular Blues commentator Bernie Federko will be on the pregame- between period and postgame segments for the KMOV/Matrix/Victory+ presentation Saturday, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Former Blue Chris Pronger filled his spot for the first of those telecasts.

That show was conducted from Enterprise Center, but becasue the Blues are on the road this time the program Saturday will originate from Gray’s facilities at Westport Plaza. Scott Warmann again will serve as host and Joey Vitale will be back as a co-analyst.

John Kelly (play-by-play) and Jamie Rivers (commentary) again have the game broadcast, but a twist is that Denita Victor is set to make her debut as the rinkside reporter. Victor, an alum of Lutheran South High and the University of Kansas, works for the team’s Blue Note Productions and is in her third season of hosting segments that are shown in-house during intermissions of home games.