Super ratings show strength of Grey Cup and World juniors, too

Not surprisingly, the Super Bowl scored big in the ratings Sunday and has become the new high-water mark for Canadian television. It was a game filled with great storylines and featured the two most attractive teams in the NFL.

An average of just over 6 million people watched the game on CTV and another 650,000 saw it on French-language RDS. That's small potatoes compared with the 106 million who watched the game in the U.S., but the Canadian total of 6.7 million is pretty impressive.

But in most respects, the size of that audience highlighted how successful the World junior hockey final and Grey Cup were. The junior final scored 5.3 million on TSN while the Grey Cup audience was 5.1 million. While those numbers are lower than the Super Bowl, remember that they were on TSN and it has a smaller reach than CTV.

In addition, neither of those events benefited from continent-wide publicity. The last I checked, there were no Grey Cup promos or world junior ads on NBC or CBS. The fact that the total Grey Cup audience, including RDS, was 6.1 million is something the league can use against those who say interest in the game is dying.

The only down side to the numbers was what happened in the Toronto-Hamilton region. The Super Bowl drew an average of 2 million viewers there. The Grey Cup audience in that coveted region was 900,000.

That's why reviving the Toronto Argonauts is so essential to the CFL.

But the Super Bowl wasn't the only thing Canadians watched on the weekend. Women's curling scored big numbers for TSN and the NHL's 29th best team drew big numbers for both CBC and Rogers Sportsnet.

 Here are the top weekend sports ratings on English-Canadian television, as complied by BBM Canada:

1. NFL, Super Bowl, Sunday, CTV: 6,025,000

2. NHL, Senators at Leafs, Saturday, CBC: 2,080,000

3. Curling, Tournament of Hearts final, Sunday, TSN: 1,200,000

4. NHL, Leafs at Devils, Friday, Sportsnet Ontario: 834,000*

5. Curling, Tournament of Hearts semifinal, Saturday, TSN: 800,000

6. Curling, Tournament of Hearts Page playoff, Friday, TSN: 737,000

7. NHL, Penguins at Canadiens, Saturday, CBC: 718,000

8. NHL, Bruins at Canadiens, Sunday, CBC: 646,000

9. NHL, Oilers at Avalanche, Saturday, CBC: 632,000

10. NFL, Super Bowl pre-game, Sunday, CTV: 573,000

11. Skiing, World Cup cross-country, Saturday, CBC: 437,000

12. Curling, Tournament of Hearts tie-breaker, Friday, TSN: 393,000

13. Golf, PGA Northern Trust Open, Sunday, TSN: 248,000

* Ontario only

Comments

[Sam]

Yesterday, I was predicting how you would spin the Grey Cup numbers compared with the Super Bowl ratings and knew that the TSN-CTV excuse would be front and centre. You are way too predictable, show some creativity and stop shilling. Cable proliferation in Canada is much greater than in the US so that excuse doesn't hold water like it would south of the border. Your CFL flag-waving here in early February is tiresome, much like Don Cherry's pro-Canadian anti-Europe rants which you belabour. As with Grapes, it's time for you to provide a greater breadth of knowledge to a public that is eager to know more about the ins and outs of the broadcast industry.

[JH]

Frankly, I think the numbers over the last few weeks point out that football is the definite number 2 sport in this country - and growing. I also think that the NFL is just as popular or even more popular than the CFL in Canada.the NFL playoff numbers dwarfed their CFL counterparts. I know that TSN doesn't have the reach of CTV, but lets face it - if you want to watch the game, you can watch the game. Looking back at the numbers, even TSN's Exclusive MNF games outdrew the comparable counterpart, Friday Night Football by a ton. I know our friend Rick likes to tell everyone that the people watching the NFL games are from the West - but the 2+ to 1 margin of Superbowl to Grey Cup watchers in Southern Ontario debunks that theory pretty quickly. I've said it before, I'll say it again - a TON of NFL and Football fans in Southern Ontario.

[JetsStruggaling]

the gap was a bit larger than you think
Chris, you continually underestimate the greater degree than the other sports to which the NFL, and esp. Super Bowl, is watched in larger groups and at commercial establishments

[Julien]

Zelkovich, the Senators at Leafs game was part of a split telecast with the Flames at Lightning game. You list split telecast games in past ratings blogs. Just add that in there.

[Josh]

JH writes, "I know that TSN doesn't have the reach of CTV, but lets face it - if you want to watch the game, you can watch the game."

This misses the point of a big game though - a big game like the Super Bowl or Grey Cup *automatically* draws all the football fans in. What you're trying to do as a broadcaster with a big game is expand the reach, to people who don't/wouldn't normally watch the sport.

That's a lot easier to do on an over-the-air network than on TSN. I can think of elderly relatives of mine who used to watch things like the CFL playoffs and the Grey Cup because they were on CBC. But as a matter of habit, they never watch TSN.

"Looking back at the numbers, even TSN's Exclusive MNF games outdrew the comparable counterpart, Friday Night Football by a ton."

Ok, but Monday is a far better night for television across the board than Friday. There's a reason that TV networks send shows that they want to bury to Friday nights.

I'm not a total CFL apologist, and I'm happy if both leagues can coexist, but if you deny that the NFL has a lot of built-in advantages over the CFL (such as a massive celebrity/hype machine type of appeal), you're fooling yourself.

[argosrule]

The new ratings system takes into account all of the people watching in bars now, JetsStruggaling. And for the record, the reach of CTV is about 3 to 4 million more than what TSN is able to reach so is it any wonder that the Super Bowl drew a bit more than the Grey Cup? If you look at the proportion of available audience that each game and league gets in this country, the CFL wins hands down.

[mr k]

Football is the #2 sport in Canada and #1 in the US but I wouldn't judge it based on Super Bowl ratings.

Most people are watching as being part of mainstream pop culture, being part of the party experience - seduced by the commercial gabfest that North Americans tend to fall for everytime. I read somewhere that 51% of Americans polled this year were watching the Super Bowl for the ads.

[SF]

The Super Bowl is almost a variety show. How many people tuned in just to watch The Who at half time? I believe there was a big country star singing at the start of the game as well. There are clearly a very large number of casual viewers who watch the Super Bowl, and NFL games in general, and I’m sure is fine for the advertisers, but it’s likely not so fine for Rogers and their $80 million investment in bringing live NFL football to Toronto. What I can’t figure out is whether Rogers really thought that there was a market for NFL football in Toronto. Did he think he could create a demand for it? There has never been anything you could point to that showed any kind of significant interest in bringing NFL football to Toronto, and yet Rogers spent $80 million to do just this. Did he lose a bet with Ralph Wilson? I can’t explain it.

I don’t know what reviving the Argos means, but now that Braley owns them I think he should consider moving them out of downtown and into a new stadium in the burbs. Downtown Toronto is a dead zone for everything but hockey, and now perhaps soccer. I don’t know if there are any remaining possibilities for a deal with York but the success of soccer in Toronto might open the door for another pro team of some sort and therefore another tenant for such a facility. Toronto is a big city with surprisingly few facilities for its size, and maybe there is untapped potential that a sharp business man, i.e. David Braley, could take advantage of.

[Rick Grace]

I predicted the Super Bowl would do half a million more then the Grey Cup, and I was correct.
CTV reaches 4 million more homes then TSN and RDS combined.
Total for Grey Cup on tSN and RDS was 6.1 million.
Total for Superbowl 6.7 million.
But percentage wise more people watched the Cup on TSN and RDS (67%)then watched the Super bowl on CTV (51%).
Next TV deal the CFL signs will put an end to having our second most popular league exculsively on a cable channel.
But really.
Any Canadian team reaches the NHL finals, or if Team Canada does well on the ice at the Olympics, and they will dwarf these numbers.
And you'll have real fans watching too.
Non like these one day football fans.

[Rick Grace]

And JH.
Don't try to tell me these numbers prove anything about football in southern Ontario.
All it proves is people in this area will sit through a big football TV show.
Many were more worried about seeing the commercials!
But where are all these viewrs the rest of the year?
Face facts here.
75% of the people who watched yesterday in southern Ontario won't watch another football game until next years Grey Cup.
Southern Ontario is not a good football market.

[DLind]

I enjoy your work, Chris, but I do find this sentence odd: "But in most respects, the size of that audience highlighted how successful the World junior hockey final and Grey Cup were."

Really? Personally, I think that having 6 million Canadians watch the Superbowl highlights how many Canadian NFL fans there are, not how many CFL fans there are. Isn't that really the point to take from these ratings? It sort of seems like you're stretching here.

I mean, for example, did those Grey Cup ratings say anything to us about how popular the Super Bowl is here?

[people]

Tying in the comments about expanding the reach of sporting events like the Super Bowl beyond the sports world, other than for the Olympics & World Cup, the Super Bowl does a really good job.

2 recent surveys just reflect it: 51% of Americans watch the Super Bowl for the commercials rather than the game and more Americans remember their favourite ads rather than who won the game.

It shows there is about 30-40 million American viewers and probably about 2m Cdn viewers who'll watch anything if there is a chance to party, add a few more pounds to their already blubbery frame and swill a gallon or two of some over commercialized but flavour less beer with their buddies.

And it shows Toronto is again the centre of universe in Canada - this time for this type of cultural subset - falling more for the event accessories (ads, beer food) rather than the substance (~15 mins of game action).

[Dave]

The NFL is a billion dollar league, that the CFL is even close to the NFL in rating is a remarkable achievment for the CFL. You either like football or you don't, i prefer the CFL,, that way I watch football 9 months of the year

[JH]

Ricky, you're wrong again...and frankly I'm getting tired of saying the same thing to you week after week. You're always telling us that excuses are for losers, but after your nemisis (NFL) has done very well week after week, all you do is make excuses as to why....and your note about "If a Canadian team reaches the finals.." makes my point....a HOME market or an AWAY market makes up a HUGE portion of ratings. Every CFL game has two...every NFL game has none...
As for the other guys comment about the NFL market in Toronto...there is a big one. Just not a Bills market. We'd like our own team, thanks.

[Rick Grace]

Sorry JH.
You don't read anything I say.
And you obviously don't read the TV ratings each week.
Of course Canadians want to watch Canadians.
Thats why the NHL and CFL does so well.
And considering the over the top coverage the media up here gives the NFL, the numbers aren't that great.
Not nearly what the CFL or NHL garner.
Maybe Mr. Zelkovich could do a comparison of the two leagues regular season TV ratings in an article?
Put the CFL on a major carrier like CBC, which the next TV deal will, and the numbers would be further apart then they are already.
But guess you're stuck with the CFL for years to come pal
And I know that ticks you off.

[DLind]

"Downtown Toronto is a dead zone for everything but hockey, and now perhaps soccer."

I'm not sure what that means. Toronto's downtown is FAR more vibrant than most North American cities of its size. People actually live in the core here, so it doesn't just shut down at 5pm.

Jays games are a relative dead zone because the team has been mediocre for 17 years, not because the stadium is downtown. And Raptor games are not a dead zone at all. They've been a top 10 attendance team for the last 3 years or so, and the atmosphere at games is excellent.

[JH]

Well said, DLind. Those to describe the city like that don't know it, or know what it's like to be at an event (sports or the other million things to do here - it's a beehive all the time) Ricky, I like the CFL...my preference is the NFL, but the CFL is a good second choice for me..you're phony Canadian Only crap is the annoying part.

[SF]

DLind
I’m not sure what cities you’re thinking of. Is downtown Toronto more vibrant than downtown Montreal or Vancouver? I don’t think so. The key point for this discussion, however, is that downtown Toronto is a football dead zone. The first regular season NFL game in Canada barely sold half of its tickets, and scalpers are having trouble dumping tickets for well below what you would pay to see an Argos game. Argos games aren’t that well attended either. Toronto is a city of 5 million people, but I’m sure that attendance for sports and cultural events is well below average, and in particular football seems to be very far below average. I think that may suggest some untapped potential, but it looks like you’d have to get out of downtown to tap into it. Part of the problem may well be that facilities are concentrated in the downtown area. A large percentage of the population would have to take long trips to see a game, and clearly most decide not to do it. I don’t think it’s a question of there being competing events either, because Toronto has fewer festivals and live music events per captia as well. Maybe with some facilities that were better located and quicker to get to Torontians could be coaxed off the couch and out to see some live football. There would probably be more opportunities for tailgating at a stadium in the burbs as well. Maybe a stadium could even be built to accommodate tailgating.

[HM]

SF, you don't have a clue about Toronto - not a clue. The city is a whole lot busier and vibrant than Vancouver (Montreal is great - but only in certain areas)
SO many people live in Toronto and it's buzzing 24 hours a day. Cultural events? Are you kidding? There are a TON. You have zero idea here.
As for tailgating - it's illegal to drink in public, so before that changes it's a dead issue. As for why the NFL hasn't been a crazy ticket? Uh...for some reason Rogers thinks everyone loves the Bills (we don't - we laugh at that city) and will pay 3X what we do 4 hours from here in Det Buffalo or Cleveland. I''m a good example. I travel every year to 1 or 2 games in those cities...yet I had no interest in going to the TO game, which is 15 minutes from where I live. Why? Because the prices are ridiculous..and I have no interest in seeing the Bills. If the Jays could turn around 15 years of mediocrity, the attendance will increase too...81 Home games - no way they sell out.

[JGH]

Look, Toronto is a great city. A blast and a million things to do. There is a ton of competition for the entertainment dollar. Win and people will spend their money to attend (and this is the same as Montreal - when the Canadiens aren't winning, there are 2000 empty seats)
As for why CFL football doesn't do well? It's simple - the game and league is perceived as minor league here. Simple as that.

[Rick Grace]

Phoney Canadian only?
I;m a Canadian. And I prefer watching Canadians.
Like millions of Canadians do.
And when people try to say we don't, I like to point out the facts.
Once again Curling does big numbers.
Raptors and NBA nowhere to be seen.
Yet you say I'm putting down the Raptors?
I'm just giving the facts, which for some reason
you refuse to acknowledge.

[SF]

The people who say that they don’t like the CFL or CIS sports because they’re not “major league” are not the people you want to cater to. These people are obviously not fans of the sport. They are the wannabes who by definition have self-esteem issues and who try to associate themselves with “major league” American sports as form of compensating behaviour. It is because they’re not really fans of the sport itself that they won’t support a losing team, and they often won’t buy tickets at all. Very few of these people paid to see the NFL games in Toronto, for example, because actually paying money to sit in the stadium and watch the game is not what it’s about for them. The fans you want to cater to, otoh, are the fans of the sport, and the people who have hometown pride and enjoy coming out and supporting the home team and sharing in that community experience. This is why I think tailgating is so important. Win or lose you come out and socialize with your friends and neighbours and cheer the home team on. I think this is what makes US college sports so successful and what makes many NFL teams so successful as well. And this is also part of why I think the Argos should move to the burbs. I think there is more of a sense of community there and more of a tradition of following school teams and being part of community events.

[DLind]

Rick - nobody is saying you're wrong that millions of Canadians like watching CFL and curling. You're clearly right - and that's great! I'm glad those sports have audiences. But you speak of the NBA, NFL and MLB as though they're equivalent to the lawnbowling or darts in Canada - that's what people object to.

Now, maybe wherever you live, that's true. But in Toronto, where I live (and I suspect in many other places), there are plenty of NBA, NFL, MLB and soccer fans around. It's an extremely diverse city. So when you make these broad statements that these sports are dead in this country, it comes across as so incredibly misinformed and exaggerated and I think people more or less write you off as a troll.

SF - Toronto has a more vibrant downtown that Vancouver without question (Just today Bruce Arthur of the Post tweeted about how dead Van's downtown is, funnily enough). To be honest, I was comparing Toronto to American cities, which tend to have empty downtown's after people finish work. Toronto does a lot wrong, but one of the things it got right was having a lot of people living downtown keeping it vibrant all the time. This is a very common perception of the city. Anyway, my point is that I think downtown stadiums would be a plus here, rather than a minus. However, having the Argos in the burbs does make sense for some of the reasons you mentioned, I agree.

[Rick Grace]

DLind.
You people try to act you're like a big American city when it comes to sports.
But you're not.
Down there they draw 100,000 for a university football game.
Whats Toronto draw? 100?
Down there they draw 50,000 for baseball.
Whats Toronto draw? 15,000 tops?
Down there the NBA is next to the NFL in popularity.
Do you see the Raptors anywhere above on that list?
Face facts here.
Its a few like you who like to spread this rumour how huge these sports are.
But face it pal. You're in the minority.

[JGH]

Rick,
There's not a city in Canada that would draw 100K for a College game. Nowhere in the world does that kind of support exist other than the US.
"Down there" draw 50k for baseball? uhh..other than NYC, they don't - and like any other sports, when the teams WIN, the fans come out. Same as Toronto. People don't even go to Canadiens games when they aren't playing well.
The fact is, your incredibly jealous of Toronto and it shows every time you write something...I'm actually embarrassed for you.