Stanley Cup Playoffs Ratings Update #1

Here are the ratings for games on CBC, as well as the Canucks on TSN and Canadiens on RDS for the first six days of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Montreal vs. Ottawa (CBC/RDS)
Game 1, 5/2: 1.9 million (CBC) + 1.2 million (RDS) = 3.1 million
Game 2, 5/3: 1.8 million (CBC) + 1.2 million (RDS) = 3 million
Game 3, 5/5: 2.3 million (CBC) + 1.3 million (RDS) = 3.6 million

Boston vs. Toronto (CBC)
Game 1, 5/1: 2.6 million
Game 2, 5/4: 3.2 million

Vancouver vs. San Jose (TSN)
Game 1, 5/1: 1.25 million
Game 2, 5/3: 1.3 million
Game 3, 5/5: 1.1 million

St. Louis vs. Los Angeles (CBC)
Game 1, 4/30: 1.3 million*
Game 2, 5/2: 822, 000
Game 3, 5/4: 1.1 million

Chicago vs. Minnesota (CBC)
Game 1, 4/30: 1.3 million*
Game 2, 5/3: 687, 000
Game 3, 5/5: 502, 000

*These games were a split-national broadcast; the ratings are for the two games combined.
All numbers are BBM Canada AMA 2+

Based on this, it looks like CBC made the right decision to take the Montreal-Ottawa series instead of the Canucks. Not only is it getting better ratings, but even CBC’s third choice (STL-LA) put up comparable numbers for game 3. Its never good when a series trends downward on the weekend, as happened with the Canucks last night. To compare, last year the Canucks had a million more viewers for game 3 (on a Wednesday night) on CBC. In fact the Canucks’ ratings for games 1-3 were quite comparable to Habs-Sens this year. I know there is a difference between TSN and CBC, but come on, it isn’t worth 50% reduction in audience levels. The first three games from Flyers-Penguins on TSN last spring all had better ratings than the first three from Sharks-Canucks this year.

For comparison, here are the ratings for the first few days of the playoffs last year.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: March 16, 2013

Lots of ratings to post this week. Enjoy everyone. All are BBM 2+ AMA.

NHL
TOR-BOS, Mar 7, TSN: 1.1 million
MTL-CAR, Mar 7, RDS: 752, 000
PIT-TOR, Mar 9, CBC: 2.021 million
MTL-TB, Mar 9, RDS: 748, 000
CGY-LA, Mar 9, CBC: 601, 000
MTL-FLA, Mar 10, RDS: 726, 000
EDM-CHI, Mar 10, SNW: 225, 000
VAN-MIN, Mar 10, SNP: 364, 000
OTT-MTL, Mar 13, TSN: 870, 000

The Brier
ON-MB, Mar 9, TSN: 832, 000
NL-NO, Mar 9, TSN: 728, 000
NO-ON, Mar 10, TSN: 754, 000
MB-NO, Mar 10, TSN: 918, 000

World Baseball Classic
CAN-MEX, Mar 9, SN: 333, 000
ITA-USA, Mar 9, SN: 111, 000
CAN-USA, Mar 10, SN: 526, 000

World Figure Skating
Men’s Short, Mar 13, CBC: 264, 000

NBA
CLE-TOR, Mar 10, SN1: 64, 000

Thanks to: Bill Brioux, Whitey Fisk, Bob Weeks

The one thing to note is Sunday’s ratings. Lots of things on and competing for eyeballs. None of them really did anything spectacular. The Brier was down under a million for the first time in a while, and it only got about a quarter of its viewers from the lucrative 25-54 age group. Hockey on RDS was relatively consistent, finishing second. One of the biggest games in Canadian baseball history only drew 70, 000 more viewers than a Jays spring training game a few weeks ago.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: March 8, 2013

Here are the latest Canadian sports ratings. All numbers are BBM 2+ AMA.

NHL
TOR-OTT, Feb 23, CBC: 2.345 million
MTL-NYR, Feb 23, RDS: 737, 000
TOR-PHI, Feb 25, TSN: 949, 000
MTL-OTT, Feb 25, RDS: 623, 000
MTL-TOR, Feb 27, TSN: 1.533 million (+ 893, 000 on RDS)
MTL-PIT, Mar 2, CBC: 1.657 million (+ 890, 000 on RDS)
VAN-LA, Mar 2, CBC: 1.074 million
VAN-CGY, Mar 3, SNP: 398, 000
MTL-BOS, Mar 4, RDS: 677, 000
VAN-SJ, Mar 6, SNP: 505, 000
OTT-TOR, Mar 7, TSN: 1.376 million

The Brier
AB-MB, Mar 2, TSN: 671, 000
ON-MB, Mar 3, TSN: 596, 000
AB-NO, Mar 4, TSN: 497, 000

NBA
TOR-CLE, Feb 27, SN: 129, 000
PHI-CHI, Feb 28, TSN: 51, 000
IND-TOR, Mar 1, TSN: 175, 000

Thanks to: Bill Brioux, Whitey Fisk, Bob Weeks

For the Brier, it’s worth noting that, as of Tuesday, The AB-MB draw was the highest rated draw, while AB-NO (an afternoon draw) was the lowest.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: February 25, 2013

Here are the latest sports ratings, including the Scotties and the first Jays game of the season. All numbers are BBM 2+ AMA.

Tournament of Hearts
ON-QC, Feb 19, TSN: 518, 000
ON-CAN, Feb 22, TSN: 596, 000
ON-MB, Feb 23, TSN: 822, 000
CAN-MB, Feb 24, TSN: 635, 000
BC-CAN, Feb 24, TSN2: 287, 000
ON-MB, Feb 24, TSN: 1.057 million

NHL
PIT-WPG, Feb 15, CBC: 772, 000
PHI-MTL, Feb 16, RDS: 912, 000
OTT-TOR, Feb 16, CBC: 2.248 million
VAN-CHI, Feb 19, SNP: 483, 000
LA-EDM, Feb 19, TSN: 506, 000

NASCAR
Daytona 500, Feb 24, TSN: 691, 000

MLB Spring Training
Jays Central, Feb 23, SN: 206, 000
TOR-DET, Feb 23, SN: 456, 000

NBA
LAL-BOS, Feb 7, TSN: 43, 000
CHI-DEN, Feb 7, TSN: 25, 000
LAC-TOR, Feb 8, TSN: 148, 000
TOR-NY, Feb 13, SN: 224, 000
MIA-OKC, Feb 14, TSN: 127, 000
Rookie Game, Feb 15, TSN: 64, 000
All-Star Game, Feb 17, TSN: 309, 000
MEM-TOR, Feb 20, SN: 164, 000

Thanks to: Jamie Campbell,  Bill Brioux, Whitey Fisk, Bob Weeks

Those baseball numbers are incredible for spring training. 450, 000 would be good for a regular season game against Detroit on a Saturday afternoon. But what’s most amazing, the repeat of 1993 World Series game on Sunday afternoon scored around 150, 000. And we all thought the 200, 000 range was crazy for 20-year old hockey broadcasts on the CBC last fall.

The Scotties ratings are about consistent with 2012, drawing around 50, 000 more viewers this year.B

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: February 12

Here are the latest sports ratings for the first third of February.

NFL
Kickoff Show, Feb 3, CTV: 3.196 million
SF-BAL, Feb 3, CTV: 6.447 million (+ 750, 000 on RDS)

Also worth noting that the postgame SportsCentre that aired on TSN, remember CTV didn’t really have a postgame show, averaged around a million viewers from 11pm-midnight on TSN. That is almost better than Motive, which had 1.23 million viewers on CTV.

NHL
MTL-OTT, Jan 30, RDS: 696, 000
BUF-MTL, Feb 2, RDS: 811, 000
BOS-TOR, Feb 2, CBC: 2.189 million
OTT-MTL, Feb 3, RDS: 1.052 million
CAR-TOR, Feb 4, SNO: 784, 000
BOS-MTL, Feb 6, RDS: 887, 000
WPG-OTT/EDM-DET, Feb 9, CBC: 1.054 million
TOR-MTL, Feb 9, CBC: 2.408 million
CGY-VAN, Feb 9, CBC: 1.473 million

NBA
MEM-OKC, Jan 31, TSN: 76, 000
DAL-GS, Jan 31, TSN: 26, 000
LAC-TOR, Feb 1, TSN: 309, 000
BOS-TOR, Feb 6, SN: 141, 000

All numbers are BBM 2+ average minute audiences. Thanks to Bill Brioux and Whitey Fisk.

HNIC ratings have evened out after their above-average start. The Winnipeg-Ottawa game was down close to half a million viewers compared to their encounter on opening day. Toronto-Montreal was down almost a million. After a dip to under 2 million viewers on January 26, the Prime East game has now hit the 2 million mark three times in the first four weeks of the season. The Prime West game has also drawn at least a million viewers all but once.

But, as I said, audiences have leveled out. This year’s average Hockey Day ratings for the three games are even with last season’s numbers at 1.6 million. So, in English Canada at least, the post-lockout fad has gone back to the usual ratings. No word yet on how the rest of the CBC’s daylong celebration of hockey did.

Meanwhile a revitalized Canadiens team is great news for RDS in Quebec. Canadiens ratings are surging giving RDS multiple spots in the Quebec top 30 every week so far. Through February 6 (or 8 games), the Canadiens are averaging over 900, 000 viewers on RDS. Montreal’s numbers in Quebec (on RDS) are better than the Leafs in Ontario (on Sportsnet) so far. Of course Sportsnet has shown a very limited number of Leafs games so far.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: January 31

Some more impressive NHL numbers. Here are the latest ratings. Thanks to Whitey Fisk for the hoops and NFL and curling numbers.

NHL
MTL-WSH, Jan 24, RDS: 766, 000
TOR-NYR, Jan 26, CBC: 1.87 million
EDM-CGY, Jan 26, CBC: 1.09 million
PIT-OTT, Jan 27, SNE: 441, 000
NJ-MTL, Jan 27, RDS: 896, 000
WPG-MTL, Jan 29, RDS: 808, 000

NBA
TOR-ORL, Jan 24, TSN: 134, 000
CLE-TOR, Jan 26, TSN: 212, 000
GS-TOR, Jan 28, TSN: 185, 000

NFL
Pro Bowl, Jan 27, TSN: 204, 000

Curling The National
Semi Final, Jan 26, SN: 313, 000

Sports Ratings Update: January 27, 2013

Lots of ratings have come out over the past few week, so here they are all in one place. Sources listed at the bottom. Any not sourced means they came directly from the network.

NHL
Season Preview, Jan 17, TSN: 235, 000
Season Preview, Jan 17, SN: 105, 000
OTT-WPG, Jan 19, CBC: 1.493 million
TOR-MTL, Jan 19, CBC: 3.317 million (+ 1.286 on RDS)
ANA-VAN, Jan 19, CBC: 1.471 million
CGY-SJ, Jan 20, SNW: 296, 000
VAN-EDM, Jan 20, SN W/P: 1.008 million
CHI-PHX, Jan 20, TSN: 219, 000
BUF-TOR, Jan 21, SNO: 1.069 million
FLA-OTT, Jan 21, SNE: 308, 000
DET-CLB, Jan 21, TSN: 286, 000
CGY-ANA, Jan 21, SNW: 206, 000
FLA-MTL, Jan 22, RDS: 809, 000
WPG-WSH, Jan 22, TSN: 585, 000
SJ-EDM, Jan 22, TSN: 610, 000
TOR-PIT, Jan 23, TSN: 1.4 million

NFL
BAL-DEN, Jan 12, CTV: 1.475 million (+ 184, 000 on RDS)
GB-SF, Jan 12, CTV: 1.443 million (+ 158, 000 on RDS)
SEA-ATL, Jan 13, CTV: 1.531 million (+ 221, 000 on RDS)
HOU-NE, Jan 13, TSN: 826, 000 (+ 214, 000 on RDS)
SF-ATL, Jan 20, CTV: 1.838 million (+ 296, 000 on RDS)
BAL-NE, Jan 20, CTV: 1.985 million (+ 214, 000 on RDS)

Canadian Figure Skating Championships
Fri Jan 18, Women’s & Pairs Short (3-5pm), TSN: 99,000
Fri Jan 18, Men’s Short (8-10pm), TSN: 306,000
Sat Jan 19 (2-4pm), CTV: 362,000
Sat Jan 19, Men’s & Pairs Free (5-7m), TSN: 196,000
Sat Jan 19 (7-10pm), CTV: 686,000
Sun Jan 20, Women’s & Dance Free (2-4pm), TSN: 363,000

Curling Continental Cup
Mixed Doubles, Jan 12, TSN: 325, 000
Women’s Team, Jan 12, TSN: 421, 000
Men’s Team, Jan 12, TSN: 415, 000
Mixed Skins, Jan 13, TSN2: 222, 000
Mixed Skins, Jan 13, TSN: 495, 000

 

 

 

 

Curling Skins Game
Semi Final #1, Jan 19, TSN: 330, 000
Semi Final #2, Jan 19, TSN: 308, 000
Championship, Jan 20, TSN: 403, 000

 

NBA
CHA-TOR, Jan 11, TSN: 251, 000
OKC-POR, Jan 13, SN: 28, 000
MIA-UTA, Jan 14, SN: 51, 000
TOR-BRK, Jan 15, SN: 137, 000

All data is AMA 2+ from BBM Canada.

*The English-language CTV ratings for these games is not available.

Thanks to: Bill Brioux, Whitey Fisk, Bob Weeks

NHL Returns to Big Ratings

It’s hardly surprising that the first Saturday of the delayed NHL regular season attracted higher than usual ratings for the CBC. Regardless of how many fans say they are pissed off at the NHL and will never watch again, there are ten others who will watch every bit as much as before. What is a bit surprising though, is just how big the ratings were. The matinee, Ottawa @ Winnipeg, had an average audience of 1.493 million viewers. Not only is that a record for an afternoon regular season game, but it is the first non-Hockey Day in Canada matinee to hit a million viewers.

CBC also set a record in primetime, with an average of 3.317 million Canadians tuning into the Maple Leafs @ Canadiens game. An additional 1.3 million watched on RDS, bringing the total average audience above 4 million viewers. The “Prime West” game on CBC, which surely struggled to keep the interest of Canucks fans, 1.471 million viewers. That is the highest rated late game since Hockey Day in Canada last season.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: January 12, 2012

Here are the ratings for the past week. Lots of interesting numbers, including the BCS Championship Game. What is possibly most interesting is TSN didn’t issue a press release with World Junior medal round ratings. They must have really fizzled after Canada lost to the US in the semis.

NFL
CIN-HOU, Jan 5, CTV: 1.1 million
MIN-GB, Jan 5, CTV: 1.06 million
IND-BAL, Jan 5, CTV: 1.153 million
SEA-WSH, Jan 5, CTV: 1.525 million

NCAA FB
N. ILL-FSU, Jan 1, TSN: 218, 000
ALA-ND, Jan 7, TSN: 519, 000

NBA
POR-TOR, Jan 2, TSN: 228, 000
SAC-TOR, Jan 4, TSN: 209, 000
BOS-ATL, Jan 5, SN: 49, 000
BOS-NY, Jan 7, SN: 51, 000
TOR-PHI, Jan 9, SN: 163, 000

A few interesting notes about the NFL rankings. Minnesota-Green Bay couldn’t even hold the entire Cincinnati-Houston audience even though it followed in primetime with no competition really. Saturday ratings are up from last year though. Cincinnati-Houston, in the same timeslot two consecutive years, increased by about 200, 000. Minnesota-Green Bay drew an equal audience to New Orleans-Detroit last season. This all becomes less impressive when you consider that 2 million viewers watched a Leafs game on Wild Card Saturday last year. Certainly appears those viewers didn’t switch over to football this year.

Sunday ratings as a whole are about on par with last season. The early game was up by about 100, 000 this year, while Seattle-Washington was the only slot to suffer a decrease from last season (of about 100, 000). For everyone who likes to compare with the CFL, the Sunday NFL games averaged 1.52 million viewers, while the CFL Divisional games in November averaged 1.35 million viewers on TSN.

Also, in hockey news, a Sportsnet Hockey Central special actually beat TSN’s That’s Hockey 2 Nite on Tuesday, by about 1000 viewers. The two specials aired head-to-head at 9:00pm ET. 80, 000 watched Sportsnet, while 79, 000 watched TSN. On Sunday TSN’s specials attracted averages of 138, 000 in the morning (over 5 hours); 58, 000 between 9-10pm ET; and 103, 000 for SportsCentre between 10-11:30pm ET.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: January 3, 2013

The round robin of the World Juniors is now over. Between live and encore broadcasts all of Canada’s games topped the million mark. Here are the ratings from the last week of 2012. I’ll start fresh with 2013 ratings, hopefully including NCAA bowl games, more World Juniors and the NFL playoffs, next week.

WJHC
CAN-GER, Dec 26, TSN: 372, 000 (1.066 million in encores)
CAN-SVK, Dec 28, TSN: 286, 000 (1.164 million in encores)
CAN-USA, Dec 30, TSN: 561, 000 (1.095 million in encores)
CAN-RUS, Dec 31, TSN: 1.6 million (918, 000 in encores)

NFL
DAL-WSH, Dec 30, TSN: 719, 000

NBA
HOU-CHI, Dec 25, TSN: 245, 000
DEN-LAC, Dec 25, TSN: 156, 000
TOR-SA, Dec 26, SN: 125, 000
DAL-OKC, Dec 27, TSN: 126, 000
BOS-LAC, Dec 27, TSN: 71, 000
TOR-ORL, Dec 29, TSN: 191, 000

To put the World Junior numbers in context, 178, 000 people watched the third airing of Canada beating Germany on TSN. Only 125, 000 watched the live Raptors game on Sportsnet at the same time. Then again, the Raptors were bested by 3 of the other 4 NBA games on in primetime on December 25 and 27 too. For more information on the World Junior ratings, see TSN’s press release.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: December 30, 2012

Here are some of the last ratings for 2012. I will post this weekend’s NFL ratings as well as some more World Junior round robin ratings later in the week though. As always, follow Whitey Fisk on Twitter for the latest updates for NFL and NBA.

IIHF U20
CAN-GER, Dec 26, TSN: 1.221 million*

NFL
CIN-PHI, Dec 13, SN: 290, 000
SF-NE, Dec 16, TSN: 610, 000
NYJ-TEN, Dec 17, TSN: 510, 000
ATL-DET, Dec 22, TSN: 537, 000
SF-SEA, Dec 23, TSN: 663, 000

NBA
LAL-NY, Dec 13, TSN: 89, 000
DAL-TOR, Dec 14, TSN: 177, 000
TOR-CLE, Dec 18, TSN: 195, 000
DET-TOR, Dec 19, SN: 159, 000
ORL-TOR, Dec 21, TSN: 168, 000

AHL
STJ-HAM, Dec 21, SN: 142, 000

*This number includes 372, 000 for the live airing at 4:30am ET and 849, 000 for the first repeat at noon ET. The noon ET broadcast was the highest rated program in Canada on Boxing Day.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: December 14

Here are the latest sports ratings. As usual, thanks to Whitey Fisk for posting many of these.

NFL
DET-GB, Dec 9, TSN: 480, 000
HOU-NE, Dec 10, TSN: 602, 000

UFC
UFC 154 Prelims, Nov 17, SN: 325, 000
Henderson-Diaz, Dec 8, SN: 454, 000

CHL
Niagara-London, Dec 7, SN: 200, 000

NBA
LAL-CLE, Dec 11, SN E/O/1: 54, 000

NFL ratings continue to hold steady. This is the second straight week that Monday Night Football has topped an average of 600, 000 viewers. The three primetime games this week averaged almost 500, 000 viewers, up slightly from 458, 000 last week.

According to a Sportsnet press release Friday Night Hockey ratings are up in all four regions over last season in the 25-54 demographic. In terms of total viewers, Friday Night Hockey is up 20% over last season.

The Henderson vs. Diaz fight on Saturday was the highest rated live UFC broadcast in Sportsnet history.

Sports Ratings Update: December 10, 2012

First off, sorry I haven’t been able to update this much lately. Been extremely busy and honestly haven’t had that much desire to spend time on it. However, here are the ratings I’ve compiled since the last time. These cover the past month more or less, from November 7 until now.

CFL
EDM-TOR, Nov 11, TSN: 1.1 million
SSK-CGY, Nov 11, TSN: 1.6 million
TOR-MTL, Nov 18, TSN: 1.432 million (+ 466, 000 on RDS)
CGY-BC, Nov 18, TSN: 1.855 million (+ 105, 000 on RDS)
CGY-TOR, Nov 25, TSN: 5.5 million (+ 300, 000 on RDS)

NFL
IND-JAX, Nov 8, SN: 378, 000
CHI-HOU, Nov 11, TSN: 525, 000
KC-PIT, Nov 12, TSN: 459, 000
MIA-BUF, Nov 15, SN: 421, 000
BAL-PIT, Nov 18, TSN: 556, 000
CHI-SF, Nov 19, TSN: 538, 000
NE-NYJ, Nov 22, SN: 325, 000
CAR-PHI, Nov 26, TSN: 354, 000
NO-ATL, Nov 29, SN: 317, 000
PHI-DAL, Dec 2, TSN: 451, 000
NYG-WSH, Dec 3, TSN: 606, 000
DEN-OAK, Dec 6, SN: 411, 000

Curling
Canada Cup Round Robin, Nov 28, TSN: 267, 000
Canada Cup Round Robin, Nov 29, TSN: 313, 000
Canada Cup Men’s Semi, Dec 1, TSN: 302, 000

NBA
TOR-DAL, Nov 7, TSN: 128, 000
OKC-CHI, Nov 8, TSN: 64, 000
PHI-TOR, Nov 12, TSN: 176, 000
UTA-TOR, Nov 12, SN1: 142, 000
TOR-PHI, Nov 20, TSN: 186, 000
TOR-CHA, Nov 21, SN: 129, 000
TOR-HOU, Nov 27, SN: 95, 000
TOR-MEM, Nov 28, SN: 84, 000
NYY-MIA, Dec 6, TSN: 104, 000
TOR-UTAH, Dec 7, TSN: 77, 000

UEFA
Benfica-Celtic, Nov 20, SNO: 73, 000*
Olympiakos-Arsenal, Dec 4, SNO: 49, 000*

CIS Football
Laval-McMaster, Nov 23, TSN: 502, 000 (+ 408, 000 on RDS)

Crashed Ice
Niagara Falls, Dec 1, SN: 128, 000

*These are encore broadcasts of games originally shown live earlier in the day.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: November 9

Here are the latest ratings. Thanks to Whitey Fisk for publicizing many of these.

CFL
HAM-TOR, Nov 1, TSN: 769, 000
CGY-EDM, Nov 2, TSN: 725, 000
MTL-WPG, Nov 2, TSN: 642, 000
SSK-BC, Nov 3, TSN: 828, 000

NFL
KC-SD, Nov 1, SN: 213, 000
DAL-ATL, Nov 4, TSN: 577, 000
PHI-NO, Nov 5, TSN: 580, 000

NBA
TOR-BRK, Nov 3 SN: 185, 000
TOR-OKC, Nov 6, TSN: 91, 000

All numbers BBM Canada 2+

A few notes…

• The three CFL games this week averaged 741, 000 viewers. That is fairly consistent with last week’s average.
• With no baseball or hurricane competition, Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football were well up over last week. The average rating for the two games was up 37% over last week.
• After a great start, Raptors ratings have fallen back to the usual. Even on Tuesday night with no competition from original programming (except on CBC), the game couldn’t muster 100, 000 viewers.
• The CFL playoffs begin this weekend. Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor will call the East Semi Final between the Argonauts and Eskimos, while Rod Black and Duane Forde will call the West Semi Final as the Roughriders face the Stampeders. I think both games will see ratings increases over last season. Last year the CFL’s two smallest markets, Hamilton and Winnipeg, both made the playoffs at the expense of large markets in Toronto and Saskatchewan. With the Riders and Argos both playing on Sunday, it will only help ratings in English Canada. Since the Alouettes played in the East Semi last season, RDS will likely see a large drop off compared to last year.

Canadian Sports Ratings Update: November 1

Here are the latest ratings. Thanks to Whitey Fisk and Bill Brioux for publicizing many of these.

CFL
BC-CGY, Oct 26, TSN: 701, 000
WPG-HAM, Oct 28, TSN: 672, 000
TOR-SSK, Oct 27, TSN: 1.026 million
EDM-MTL, Oct 28, TSN: 546, 000
HAM-TOR, Nov 1, TSN: 769, 000

MLB
DET-SF (g1), Oct 24, SN: 801, 000
DET-SF (g2), Oct 25, SN: 729, 000
SF-DET (g3), Oct 27, SN: 779, 000
SF-DET (g4), Oct 28, SN: 792, 000

NFL
NYG-DAL, Oct 28, Citytv: 508, 000
NO-DEN, Oct 28, TSN: 339, 000
SF-ARZ, Oct 29, TSN: 396, 000

Skate Canada
Men’s Free, Oct 27, CTV: 679, 000

NBA
IND-TOR, Oct 31, TSN: 346, 000

NASCAR
Martinsville 500, Oct 28, TSN2: 336, 000

Old Hockey
HNIC Your Pick, Oct 27, CBC: 181, 000

 

All numbers are BBM Canada 2+

 

 

A few notes…

• The World Series averaged 775, 000 viewers over four games on Sportsnet. That is slightly up from the 7 game series betwen Texan and St. Louis last season ;however, the first four games only averaged 567, 000 viewers. The hockey lockout obviously helps a bit, but it I think it is fair to say the popularity of baseball is slightly on the rise in Canada as well. This was the lowest rated World Series in history on FOX in America.
• The Pacers-Raptors game on Wednesday night was the highest rated Raptors game since the 2009-10 season. It was lower than most NBA Finals games from June, but higher than just about every other basketball game from last season. Yet again, a product of the NHL lockout. Usually TSN’s Wednesday Night Hockey is king on Wednesdays, while hoops is shuffled to TSN2. Basketball took centre-stage on Wednesday, and with no competition, brought in as many viewers as some nationally broadcast NHL games do. Now, can the Raps keep it up?
• Skate Canada Saturday night ratings were actually slightly down from a year ago, when CTV’s coverage when head-to-head with a Leafs-Penguins game that averaged over 2 million viewers.
• The three main NFL games (Sunday 4pm, Sunday 8pm, Monday) were down slightly from last week. The World Series (Sunday) and Hurricane Sandy (Monday) probably played a role in this.
• The CFL averaged 736, 000 viewers this week, buyoyed by over a million for the playoff bound Riders and Argonauts. I credited the lack of sucess of these two teams as a major factor in the drop in CFL ratings last year. Seems like their good seasons will help raise CFL ratings this year. As a whole, the ratings are slightly down over week 17 though.