2015 TV viewership

[Qman]

FYI


Roar Report @RoarReport
#bclions game vs #esks on saturday got 543,000 viewers versus Hockey Night in Canada
#CFL

[B.C.FAN]

FYI


Roar Report @RoarReport
#bclions game vs #esks on saturday got 543,000 viewers versus Hockey Night in Canada
#CFL

I will be so glad when the Blue Jays season is over. They're wiping out all other sports audiences. The Lions' game was by far the highest-rated CFL game on the weekend. They went head-to-head with the early HNIC game on Saturday instead of the Blue Jays.

[dupsdell1]

Here is the TV viewership from last week as you can see the NFL again is number one with the NHL .

1. NHL, Leafs-Caps/Bruins-Habs/Flyers-Jets/Sens-Canes, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 1,888,000

2. NFL, Broncos-Colts/Giants-Bucs, Sunday, CTV: 834,000

3. NFL, Early afternoon games, Sunday, CTV: 731,000

4. NHL, Penguins at Flames, Saturday, CBC: 712,000

5. CFL, Tiger-Cats at RedBlacks, Saturday, TSN: 634,000

6. CFL, Stampeders at Lions, Saturday, TSN: 489,000

7. NHL, Penguins at Oilers, Friday, Sportsnet: 454,000

8. NHL, Red Wings at Maple Leafs, Friday, TSN: 451,000 (Ontario only)

9. NHL, Oilers at Blackhawks, Sunday, Sportsnet: 406,000

10. CFL, Roughriders at Alouettes, Sunday, TSN: 394,000

11. NFL, Eagles at Cowboys, Sunday, TSN: 378,000 (NBC audience not measured)

12. NHL, Canucks at Sabres, Saturday, Sportsnet: 368,000

13. CFL, Blue Bombers at Argonauts, Friday, TSN: 357,000

14. NBA, Raptors at Heat, Sunday, Sportsnet One: 236,000

15. NBA, Raptors at Magic, Friday, Sportsnet One: 228,000

16. Auto racing, NASCAR Texas 500, Sunday, TSN: 219,000 (NBC audience not measured)

17. Gymnastics, World championships, Saturday, CBC: 209,000

18. UFC, Belford vs. Henderson, Saturday, TSN: 204,000

19. Speed-skating, World short-track, Saturday, CBC: 197,000

20. Soccer, Tottenham at Arsenal, Sunday, TSN: 153,000

21. Figure skating, Cup of China, Saturday, CBC: 152,000

22. Soccer, West Bromwich at Manchester United, Saturday, Sportsnet: 150,000

23. MLS, Portland at Vancouver, Sunday, TSN: 153,000

24. Soccer, Chelsea at Stoke City, Saturday, TSN: 125,000

[David]

....as you can see the NFL again is number one with the NHL .

#3 NFL, Early afternoon games (plural) - 731,000?!?

Sure, take a bunch of NFL games and assign 1 viewership number to them while the CFL has specific (one size fits all) games at specific times. Sounds fair to me.

Anyway, that's not the story here. The story is that the mean nothing, "glorified exhibition" finale between the Lions and the Stamps drew 489,000 viewers. It was played against Hockey Night In Canada and was, let's be honest here, a horrible game to boot.

Meanwhile the Whitecaps played Sunday night (in prime time) with virtually no competition except Sunday Night Football on NBC. It was do or die. F*** or walk. The local papers were chock full of Whitecaps stories and hyped to the hilt on TSN radio. The game drew 153,000. Ed Willes reported this as 93,000 but let's assume it's the former. Holy Schaad that's a modest number!


DH

[B.C.FAN]

It gets serious this weekend. The playoffs are when CFL audiences typically soar into the seven-figure range. B.C.-Calgary and Toronto-Hamilton should be good matchups from a viewership perspective.

According to Chris Zelkovich of Yahoo Sports, rating have been trending downward for two years.

The final numbers are in and the CFL's television ratings averaged 590,000 a game on TSN and French-language RDS -- a 15 per cent drop from 2014 when they averaged 700,000. The biggest hit was taken by TSN, which saw a 19 per cent decline in ratings as its games averaged 539,000 viewers.

Worse yet, the 2015 drop follows a 6 per cent decrease the year before that.

Zelkovich goes into detail in describing the "purrfect storm" that hit the CFL, including the scheduling woes brought on by the Women's World Cup, Pan Am Games, Blue Jays' playoff run and the poor seasons experienced by the CFL heartland teams, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.

The Great Canadian Ratings Report: CFL audiences drop 15 per cent after tough season

[sj-roc]

You're looking at the combined viewership of two (or more) simulcast NFL games in spots 2 & 3. Each CFL game pulled its own numbers all by itself. Apples and oranges.

The one NFL data point here that represents a single game clocks in at number 11 ranking just below a completely meaningless CFL game between arguably the two worst teams in the league. Come to think of it, almost the whole CFL playoff picture had been set before the final week of the regular season began (with the one meaningful game to decide first in the east, Ham @ Ott, leading the way among these), yet these games still held their own against mid-season NFL matchups where there was presumably much more left at stake.

So thanks for your spin. Wolfgang Pauli would be rather jealous.

Here is the TV viewership from last week as you can see the NFL again is number one with the NHL .

1. NHL, Leafs-Caps/Bruins-Habs/Flyers-Jets/Sens-Canes, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 1,888,000

2. NFL, Broncos-Colts/Giants-Bucs, Sunday, CTV: 834,000

3. NFL, Early afternoon games, Sunday, CTV: 731,000

4. NHL, Penguins at Flames, Saturday, CBC: 712,000

5. CFL, Tiger-Cats at RedBlacks, Saturday, TSN: 634,000

6. CFL, Stampeders at Lions, Saturday, TSN: 489,000

7. NHL, Penguins at Oilers, Friday, Sportsnet: 454,000

8. NHL, Red Wings at Maple Leafs, Friday, TSN: 451,000 (Ontario only)

9. NHL, Oilers at Blackhawks, Sunday, Sportsnet: 406,000

10. CFL, Roughriders at Alouettes, Sunday, TSN: 394,000

11. NFL, Eagles at Cowboys, Sunday, TSN: 378,000 (NBC audience not measured)

12. NHL, Canucks at Sabres, Saturday, Sportsnet: 368,000

13. CFL, Blue Bombers at Argonauts, Friday, TSN: 357,000

14. NBA, Raptors at Heat, Sunday, Sportsnet One: 236,000

15. NBA, Raptors at Magic, Friday, Sportsnet One: 228,000

16. Auto racing, NASCAR Texas 500, Sunday, TSN: 219,000 (NBC audience not measured)

17. Gymnastics, World championships, Saturday, CBC: 209,000

18. UFC, Belford vs. Henderson, Saturday, TSN: 204,000

19. Speed-skating, World short-track, Saturday, CBC: 197,000

20. Soccer, Tottenham at Arsenal, Sunday, TSN: 153,000

21. Figure skating, Cup of China, Saturday, CBC: 152,000

22. Soccer, West Bromwich at Manchester United, Saturday, Sportsnet: 150,000

23. MLS, Portland at Vancouver, Sunday, TSN: 153,000

24. Soccer, Chelsea at Stoke City, Saturday, TSN: 125,000

[chwk_lionsfan]

Meanwhile the Whitecaps played Sunday night (in prime time) with virtually no competition except Sunday Night Football on NBC. It was do or die. F*** or walk. The local papers were chock full of Whitecaps stories and hyped to the hilt on TSN radio. The game drew 153,000. Ed Willes reported this as 93,000 but let's assume it's the former. Holy Schaad that's a modest number!


DH

The guys on the team 1040 were going on about how the Whitecaps are now #2 in the vancouver market. Angus put them in their place. 152,000 for the biggest game in Whitecaps MLS history, is a very telling statement about how the public at large still views soccer. The hype train was unreal for that game.

The Lower Mainland market for as long as I can remember has been
1. Canucks
2. Lions
3. Everything else(Whitecaps, Canadians, Giants)

[sj-roc]

Meanwhile the Whitecaps played Sunday night (in prime time) with virtually no competition except Sunday Night Football on NBC. It was do or die. F*** or walk. The local papers were chock full of Whitecaps stories and hyped to the hilt on TSN radio. The game drew 153,000. Ed Willes reported this as 93,000 but let's assume it's the former. Holy Schaad that's a modest number!


DH

The guys on the team 1040 were going on about how the Whitecaps are now #2 in the vancouver market. Angus put them in their place. 152,000 for the biggest game in Whitecaps MLS history, is a very telling statement about how the public at large still views soccer. The hype train was unreal for that game.

The Lower Mainland market for as long as I can remember has been
1. Canucks
2. Lions
3. Everything else(Whitecaps, Canadians, Giants)

Could make for an interesting crossover segment between Mayenknecht & Moj on Saturday at 11am if they both appear together at that time as they often have. I recall back in March right after the Whitecaps season opener that they had a bit of an on-air tête-à-tête. TM gushed over the tv ratings for the Whitecaps' season opener and proclaimed them as having wrested the #2 sports market ranking away from the Lions, but Moj was quick to put the kibosh on that line of thinking by pointing to how tv ratings for the Lions and Caps compare over the long haul — strongly in the LIons' favour.

[aklawitter]

The TV numbers tell me that footy fans will tune into Whitecaps games, in pretty much the same number as they do BPL games.

#2 in the market? Even this soccer fan knows to get real with that claim.

[JohnHenry]

One factor in the drop in CFL ratings is TSN no longer shows games on all 5 TSN channels, making CFL games unavailable in many homes unless they subscribe to optional sports packages. In Sask & Manitoba (where CFL ratings are the highest) several CFL games were bumped for Winnipeg Jets games, similarly in Ontario for the Leafs. CFL ratings have dropped since TSN started doing this last year. TSN is basically using the popularity of the CFL to force fans to subscribe to their optional channels. This is similar to TSN blocking fans in western Canada from viewing their video archive of CFL games unless they subscribe to Shaw/TSN GO, while fans in Ontario get free access to these videos with a basic Rogers cable plan.

[almo89]

dupsdell stirring the pot as usual. Nothing to see here folks...

[jcalhoun]

Hey all,

I think the CFL is a victim of cord-cutting as much as anything else. There was an article in the Huffington Post the other day that Canadians are getting rid of cable at seven times the rate they were at this point last year. Rogers lost 6.1% of its subscribers, and 153,ooo people dropped their cable services in the first nine months of this year. This trend will continue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/11 ... 37168.html

I've written before that I'm without cable, because I just don't need/want it. All the shows I want to watch are available online (QI, Elementary, South Park) or soon will be: (Top Gear, Sherlock).

I used to be a CFL fanatic, watching every game each weekend; now I watch the Lions' games a few days later on Youtube, if they were close/interesting games. Otherwise, I've better things to do than watch television for 3+ hours at a time.

Given this trend, I think the CFL is at a crossroads where it needs to come up with a digital strategy. I would gladly pay a monthly fee for a BC Lions youtube channel (for example) that had a live game broadcast, and Lions specific analysis. The relatively small size of the league should make doing this less complicated than with larger leagues, and they should get ahead of the curve, if possible.

Once you've got ridden of cable, one of the curious experiences is TV advertising which you once viewed as just part of the background of broadcasts becomes particularly offensive. I don't ever want to see another ad for a Wendy's Baconator, thankyouverymuch. One of the virtues of online ads is that they are targeted to the individual based on my browsing/purchase history, and if their has to be ads, they should be as tailored to the individual as possible.

Along similar lines, I'd like to make a screwball suggestion: the league should get rid of TV timeouts. There is simply no need for them. The in-stadium experience, without TV timeouts, would be vastly improved. Last week's game against Calgary is on Youtube. The fellow splices out the ads, but keeps the halftime show/analysis. It was 1 hour, 57 minutes. That's purrfect. Imagine how great it would be for the league (and those watching in the stands) to knock an hour off the total time at the game where *nothing* happens. It would be the biggest revolution in the game since instant replay. TSN, bless them, could still go to commercial by pausing the feed and picking up where the game left off once they'd run their suite of four or five thirty-second ads. Radio would be hooped, but I'm sure they could be accommodated/placated somehow. Several sports, particularly in Europe, have no TV-timeouts. I'm a bit of a Formula 1 fan, and watching UK coverage of a race is fantastic. They never cut away. It's brilliant. International rugby is the same, as is soccer (if I'm not mistaken). When you watch these sports you don't feel like you've blown a whole afternoon on the couch, and you haven't been bombarded with loud, annoying adverts. It's something the CFL should emulate.

And while I'm dreaming, I want multiple audio feeds for a game. Frankly, I don't care to hear the commentators 90% of the time. There is no reason that I should have to hear the TSN gameday commentators and have no other options. As a consumer of the product, I should be able to toggle between the radio feeds of each of team and a live, unedited audio feed from the field. Obviously there would have to be a language warning, but seriously, wouldn't all of you rather hear Nik Lewis trash talking Adam Bighill in all his profane glory than Suitor rambling on about somebody's nickname?

I don't think any of these changes are likely, but I do think the CFL should start thinking about them. Every year more and more Canadians are getting rid of cable and if your business model relies on tv broadcasts, then you're hooped unless you start innovating.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for one morning.

Cheers,

James

[Hambone]

One factor in the drop in CFL ratings is TSN no longer shows games on all 5 TSN channels, making CFL games unavailable in many homes unless they subscribe to optional sports packages. In Sask & Manitoba (where CFL ratings are the highest) several CFL games were bumped for Winnipeg Jets games, similarly in Ontario for the Leafs. CFL ratings have dropped since TSN started doing this last year. TSN is basically using the popularity of the CFL to force fans to subscribe to their optional channels. This is similar to TSN blocking fans in western Canada from viewing their video archive of CFL games unless they subscribe to Shaw/TSN GO, while fans in Ontario get free access to these videos with a basic Rogers cable plan.

It's really getting difficult to analyze the numbers because one rarely can compare apples to apples what with regionalization, 5 TSNs, 4 or 5 Sportsnets, programs being bumped etc. There's so much content out there the viewership pie can be split several ways in one timeslot while another telecast in another timeslot might have nothing to speak of competing with it.

[Qman]

Meanwhile the Whitecaps played Sunday night (in prime time) with virtually no competition except Sunday Night Football on NBC. It was do or die. F*** or walk. The local papers were chock full of Whitecaps stories and hyped to the hilt on TSN radio. The game drew 153,000. Ed Willes reported this as 93,000 but let's assume it's the former. Holy Schaad that's a modest number!


DH

The guys on the team 1040 were going on about how the Whitecaps are now #2 in the vancouver market. Angus put them in their place. 152,000 for the biggest game in Whitecaps MLS history, is a very telling statement about how the public at large still views soccer. The hype train was unreal for that game.

The Lower Mainland market for as long as I can remember has been
1. Canucks
2. Lions
3. Everything else(Whitecaps, Canadians, Giants)

actually it only drew 135k. Chris Z flipped the numbers.
93k is a vancouver market number

canucks normally get 200-400k locally
lions 200-300k locally
whitecaps 25-75k locally

[Qman]

100% its the blue jays run ... soaking up TV viewers.

Ratings will be back to normal next year