It’s a Grey Cup audience record for TSN
November 30, 2009 · 20 Comments
It was won (and lost) on the final play, which gave the telecast plenty of drama. It was unpredictable and strange, but never dull, although the first quarter did not look promising.
And, it didn’t hurt that TSN’s leading CFL draw, Saskatchewan Roughriders, was in the Grey Cup game against the Montreal Alouettes.
When it was over, all those factors helped deliver to TSN an audience of 5.087 million viewers – a TV record for the CFL’s championship game.
TSN’s viewership, combined with RDS’s French language audience of 1.009 million, brought the national total to 6.096 million, which is also a record.
These are preliminary figures and they could change slightly, but not much. The record will stand.
The previous Grey Cup mark was set in 2002 when the CBC drew 4.416 million for Edmonton Eskimos-Alouettes (a English language record), and RDS pulled in 1.019 million, bringing the total of 5.435 million (a national record).
But measuring the 2002 audience against the 2009 figure is an apples and oranges comparison. The new BBM Canada system of measurement, called the Portable People Meter, has significantly increased live sports audiences across the board since it was introduced to the English Canadian market in September.
The big change involves group viewing. It’s now being measured and it wasn’t in the past. And for big events such as the Grey Cup, there is plenty of group viewing, at house parties and in bars and restaurants. Those audiences weren’t measured in 2002.
RDS’s audience of 1.009 million was not a record. Its largest Grey Cup audience tuned in last year when 1.062 million watched the Als lose to the Calgary Stampeders. That audience was measured by the PPMs.
For TSN, it’s 5.087 million ranks as its largest audience ever for any telecast, easily surpassing the 3.7 million for the 2009 world junior gold medal game between Canada and Sweden.
The audience peaked at 8.35 million at 9:49 p.m. ET, when Damon Duval converted his second attempt at a field goal to win the game 28-27 for Montreal.
The afternoon pre-game show averaged 2.2 million viewers. The post-game telecast was watched by 2.1 million. Both are impressive numbers. TSN.ca had 2.9 million page views on Sunday.
A full review of TSN’s Grey Cup telecast can be read on the previous post.
Weekend audiences
The absence of the Toronto Maple Leafs cost Hockey Night In Canada at least 250,000 viewers on Saturday night.
The show’s 7 p.m. ET game, with the Leafs playing, had been averaging more than two million viewers. With Toronto idle on Saturday, a large segment of the southern Ontario market tuned out and the audience dropped to 1.783 million. Hockey Night aired three games: Washington Capitals-Montreal Canadiens went nationally, with Calgary-Columbus and Boston-Ottawa seen regionally.
The pre-game show continues to draw exceptionally well. It had 644,000. The second game of the doubleheader, Vancouver-Edmonton, was watched by a 1.202 million, well above the average.
Regional hockey: Friday, Calgary Flames-Detroit Red Wings, 228,000; San Jose Sharks-Edmonton Oilers, Rogers Sportsnet West 255,000. Sunday, Sharks-Canucks, 399,000, Sportsnet Pacific.
Football: Vanier Cup, Calgary-Queens, TSN, Saturday afternoon, 399,000. (The Score’s audience last year was 109,000.) CFL Player Awards show, Saturday, TSN, 212,000.
NFL: CTV’s regional 1 p.m. telecast, 735,000; Sportsnet 4 p.m. regional, 259,000; City TV telecast, 472,000; Sunday night game, Baltimore-Pittsburgh, TSN2, 205,000.
Basketball: Toronto Raptors-Boston Celtics, Friday, TSN, 222,000; Phoenix Suns-Raptors, CBC, Sunday afternoon, 334,000.
Alpine skiing: Saturday: Aspen women’s GS, run one, 63,000 viewers, CBC; Lake Louise men’s downhill, 119,000; Aspen women’s GS, run two, 199,000.
Soccer: EPL, Sportsnet, Saturday morning, 67,000.
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How does the PPM know how many people are in the bar watching the show?
Hey William,
Long time reader – so glad to see you’ve got a blog now! Quick question… any word on the ratings for the Vanier Cup on TSN?
Kevin, the weekend audiences, Vanier included, have been updated.
Where are the mighty NFL numbers…you Rogers/MLSE suckhole?
Too scared to put the numbers in because it may show how ridiculous all of you clowns in the Toronto sports media truely are.
I can’t wait until Thursday night when there is 20 000 empty seats at Skydome.
I’d like to see your spin on how exciting the game was and how the crowd’s atmosphere was eletric…haha
The sooner clowns like yourself,Brunt,Simmons,Mendes,Cox,Hodge and Naylor are finally tuned out and a new generation of Canadian friendly writers and brodcasters fill the void …the better.
Wow…what a brilliant comment…
Weird comment by Brent.
I guess a lot of Canadians are rooting for the NFL in Toronto to fail because they’re worried it will kill the CFL. I really don’t think that would happen – I really believe the Argos and an NFL team could both survive (Each team would appeal to very different crowds, in my opinion).
Brent: To suggest that these writers/broadcasters are NFL apologists and CFL bashers is ludicrous. Yes they’re critical of the CFL when it’s warranted: it’s their job to do that! But read Brunt’s column a few weeks ago on Hamilton getting into the playoffs and then tell me again just how it is that that he hates the CFL. Read Naylor’s blog on how many Grey Cups he’s covered and the stories he’s had and tell me he hates the CFL. Trust me, it would be INFINITELY more boring to read an apologist for the CFL–if you want that kind of fawning, go to cfl.ca–there’s plenty of it there!!
The total lack of NFL numbers here is a pretty interesting oversight. They probably didn’t change much from previous weeks though.
Thursday’s game promises to be hillarious vindication for everybody who said that Toronto wouldn’t pay for massively overpriced NFL tickets just because its the NFL. I wonder how much my cable bill will go up this month to cover the losses from all the freebies they’ll have to give out to paper the house this time?
Just one correction..the Montreal game was NOT shown nationally Saturday….. in New Brunswick (and I assume the rest of Atlantic Canada) got the game from Boston (which is in the United States, I believe) rather than a game featuring Montreal and Washington. At least it wasn`t the bloody Maple Leafs being shoved down everyoneès throat…as is the ccustom for Hockey Night in Toronto.
You know what’s interesting about all these record numbers for the Grey Cup? The one constant is the participation of the Montréal Alouettes. Why is that? Media always point to the centrality of Toronto to the TV market for CFL games, and there was grousing in the Toronto media last week that neither of the 2 largest Anglo markets, Toronto and Vancouver, were in the game, so it would hurt ratings. And yet, a record, involving the Alouettes, beating the previous record, also a game involving the Alouettes. Perhaps, Mr. Houston, it’s not the Roughriders that drove the viewership on Sunday, but the Alouettes?
Brent:
Dude, if you are going to write something as inflammatory as that, at least have the cashews to show yourself and print your full name. Plus, you are way off base in your comments. All those writers cover Canadian sport to an admirable, if not sometimes over the top extent.
Matthew:
I would agree with your assertion. Montreal vs Saskatchewan was a dream match up for the CFL due, in large, to the loyal following of Montreal as well as their on-field excellence. Add in the sentimental pick of the ‘Riders and it was best the CFL could hope for.
Steve Clark
Re: NFL ratings. The biggest number is usually generated by the Sunday night game, which of course wasn’t shown on TSN, only on NBC. So, we have no way of knowing what the audience for that game was.
Of course, even NFL freaks such as myself would have to admit that the 6 million watching the Grey Cup would include many fans of football in general who would necessarily not be watching the NFL during that 6:30-10 p.m. EST time period.
The next interesting one, of course, given the general increase in viewership that has come from the PPMs, is this upcoming Super Bowl. Last year’s (Steelers/Cardinals) did 4 million in Canada. Can it hit 6 million this year? We’ll see.
I think with the new PPM system, the Superbowl will hit 5+Million – that would fall in line with all the other increases. As for everyone always comparing CFL to NFL – can’t we just like football and not pit one against the other all of the time? I’m a big NFL fan, but enjoy the CFL (though not as frequently) too. I think people should also understand that the NFL gets VERY good numbers in Canada (TSN got 1M for the Pats/Saints) last night…especially since there ISN’T A TEAM in Canada – Meaning you are never, ever counting the home and away markets.
It’s simply lazy to say that not having the Leafs on Saturday cost HNIC 250,000 viewers. There are just too many other factors to do a straight up last week/this week comparison, with but one of them being that CTV was counter-programming (sorta) with hockey of its own for once with that Ovechkin/Crosby thing they aired.
Not to mention the fact that if CBC maybe thought about airing non-Leaf games nationally from time-to-time, the other teams would develop more of a national profile.
And yet, 1/3 of all Canadians think the Montréal Canadiens are Canada’s national team, more than those who think the Leafs are. So, maybe the audience doesn’t need to be grown, but when the CBC doesn’t broadcast the Leafs, it splits up the nation all the more, 3 games last week. How much of a market do the Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators have nationally vs. the Canadiens? I’d say not much. It’s one thing to go regional, it’s another to split the nation into smaller pieces when the Leafs aren’t playing.
Sure, but the other factor is that the Canadiens are the only team that has a competing broadcast. If CBC airs the Sens, Leafs, or any other English-Canadian team, it gets the audience all to itself. Not so with Hab fans (both franco and anglo) who’re already in the habit of going to RDS.
Those are pretty good numbers for the Vanier Cup.
67,000 watching soccer on Sportsnet isn’t very good, but they didn’t have a popular match-up. How did Arsenal vs. Chelsea do on The Score on Sunday?