World Cup audiences hotter than a vuvuzela-blower's lips

The strong ratings for the World Cup continue to roll in, dominating the Canadian sports television scene.

In fact, the only non-soccer event that came close to pushing the South African horn-fest out of the way was the U.S. Open final round. We'll never really know how big that audience was, since those who watched on NBC aren't counted, but suffice to say it was more than 1 million.

But five soccer audiences topped the million mark, an amazing feat considering that many of those games were played in the morning -- or before dawn on the West Coast.

CBC is averaging more than 1 million for its World Cup coverage, about double the early averages that TSN and Rogers Sportsnet recorded in 2006. The new ratings system is part of that, but the World Cup has followed the trend of increasing audiences every time around.

Here are the top-rated sports weekend events on English-language television, according to BBM Canada overnight calculations:

1. World Cup, Italy vs. New Zealand, Sunday, CBC: 1,631,000

2. World Cup, Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, Sunday, CBC: 1,588,000*

3. World Cup, Ghana vs. Australia, Saturday, CBC: 1,245,000

4. World Cup, Cameroon vs. Denmark, Saturday, CBC: 1,205,000

5. World Cup, England vs. Argentina, Friday, CBC: 1,034,000

6. World Cup, Slovenia vs. U.S., Friday, CBC: 922,000

7. World Cup, Netherlands vs. Japan, Saturday, CBC: 727,000

8. Golf, U.S. Open final round, Sunday, TSN: 693,000*

9. World Cup, Germany vs. Slovenia, Friday, CBC: 674,000

10. World Cup, Slovakia vs. Paraguay, Sunday, CBC: 530,000

11. Golf, U.S. Open third round, Saturday, TSN: 489,000*

12. MLB, Giants at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 423,000

13. MLB, Giants at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 389,000

14. MLB, Giants at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 362,000**

15. Golf, U.S. Open second round, Friday, TSN: 275,000

* Viewers for U.S. channels not calculated

** Three Sportsnet channels only

Comments

[Studmuffin69]

it is no wonder world cup soccer has great ratings

It's all here--fast-kicking, low scoring, and ties? You bet!

[Bora Mihailovic]

#9 should be Germany vs. Serbia not Slovenia as they played USA which is #6

[Orest_Thamalpachuk]

The World Cup is something like the Olympics, in that it happens once every four years when not much else is going on and gets a huge amount of hype. It gets lots of flag-waving viewers jumping on the bandwagon, who then immediately return to ignoring soccer after they're reminded that it's a horrendously unwatchable excuse for a sport.

For those who think the only thing stopping huge numbers of Canadians and Americans from becoming soccer fans is that they haven't seen it -- you're wrong. They have seen it, and they don't like it because they have seen it. For decades more kids have been playing it than any other sport, and they've still grown up to become adults who wouldn't open their curtains to watch professional soccer if it was being played in their back yard. I saw some guy with a Brazil car flag interviewed on the local news say that Canadians would care if and when the Canadian team makes it. Wrong again. Canada already did qualify once (1986 -- and this guy said he'd moved to Canada when he was six and looked to be at least in his 40s, old enough to remember the 1980s), and no one cared, as demonstrated by the fact that few noticed or remember it.

It may be popular in third world countries where they can't afford something better, or perhaps can't understand something slightly more complicated, but otherwise it's really not a sport that should be played
by anyone over the age of 12.

[Basshat]

When did England play Argentina? Do you mean Greece vs Argentina?

[Bora Mihailovic]

#5 should be England-Algeria not Argentina. So many mistake Mr.Zelkovich for someone who likes to critique others.

Look at those baseball ratings. Impressive for 3 hours which after taking out the scratching of various body parts, spitting, arguing, pitcher head shaking, catcher stretching, changing positions etc. might actually include 5 minutes of action in those 3 hours if you're lucky.

[Brett S]

A soccer fan calling baseball boring? HA! Orest a mostly correct post, but soccer is growing in this country, and World Cup just gets bigger and bigger all the time. As for this, "It may be popular in third world countries where they can't afford something better, or perhaps can't understand something slightly more complicated"...you're ignorance is quite frightening. Remember, the third world is where cricket is most popular, now tell me they are too dumb to understand complicated sports? Next World Cup is in Brazil, in an actually reasonable timezone, and should draw enormous numbers. But yes, soccer will go back into the fringes after July 11, that is for sure! July 1st Canada Day Riders vs Als then we'll see how the World Cup looks in the ratings. Go Riders!

[Studmuffin69]

Orest_Thamalpachuk
hit the nail on the head with his comment. i could not agree any more

[Josh]

What's with all the hate for different sports. I'm betting I'm the only one on here who likes hockey, football, soccer, baseball and basketball (not to mention tennis, racing, curling etc.). The people who hate soccer (for the most part) are the same people who think that hockey is boring unless a lot of goals are scored. People usually hate a sport because they don't understand it or because they feel it threatens a sport that they like (at least thats what I gather from reading comments on here).

I know that lots of people on here hate soccer and basketball, but face it they are two of the most popular team sports in the world. Only rugby and cricket come close.

FWIW, the biggest reason that soccer ratings will fall after the World Cup is because MLS is boring and the Premier League is on cable and the matches are in the morning. Of course soccer's ratings will go back down after the World Cup. Like I said on another post, nobody expected hockey's ratings to stay around 10 million after the Olympics either.

Orest, your comments are just ignorant. Soccer is a very tactical sport, if you don't understand that then you have never really watched it. To say that it shouldn't be played by people over the age of 12 is stupid, because guess what, 12 year olds don't play tactical soccer!

Oh and last I checked England invented football, er soccer. Yea England is really a third World country. You know what? So are Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Italy and the Netherlands.

[Mike]

Orest, huh? Your logic is that because Canada made the World Cup 24 years ago it proves that making it again would not help the popularity of soccer in this country?
And I guess third world to you means "everywhere but the United States and Canada"

[Jimmy D]

Studmuffin, one thing I dont understand is, why the need to go on these boards and make a point about how much you hate soccer. What is it about the game that causes you such annoyance. I NEVER see soccer fans going on to blogs about basketball, hockey or baseball and dissing the sports for no apparent reason. People may not enjoy these other sports but they dont feel a need to vent about how terrible the sports are.
You and Orest both hate the game so why not just let those of us who love the sport enjoy it in peace. You told me previously that you were not racist, but you just said that you couldnt agree with Orests posts any more. He said that it may be popular in third world countries because it is not too complicated for them!!!! What about the sheer arrogance to assume that those of us from other lands would prefer your North American sports if we could afford them. Who do you people think you are??? I am from Scotland and trust me, everyone back home loves soccer with a passion. I guess we must be simple minded people to love such a boring unwatchable game. I like hockey, and basketball, I dont enjoy CFL football, but I am not going to mock those that like the sport.
And I dont think soccer will ever dominate here, but as I said before, the sport is growing, thats all. When Montreal and Vancouver join MLS it will continue its slow steady growth.
What I dont get, is not so much that you dont like the sport, but that you seem angry that it is gaining a foothold here. Yes, it will fall back in the ratings after the World Cup, but bottom line is, these numbers are solid.
Cheers
Jimmy

[Bora Mihailovic]

Those baseball numbers are disappointing for Canada's "national team" (are there more than 5000 people outside of the GTA that really care for the blow jays?)considering that Sportsnet is the Blue Jays and poker channel. 24/7 promotion on Sportsnet, Fan590 even 680 News (all Rogers owned coincidentally)trying to get viewers to tune in. With their attendance figures getting worse each year (just wait until August and September when they'll be 20 games behind in the AL East) I predict they'll move in the next decade just like Expos who were once Canada's "national team" too lol.

[Rick Grace]

I think alot of people are watching the soccer more for the specatacle.
Like they do the Olympics.
I mean millions watched the mens 30k cross country skiing final at the Olympics this year.
Show this sport on TSN this Saturday, and you'd get test pattern ratings.
Same goes for the World Cup.
But when its over, soccer and its TV ratings will go back to its usual lower tier ratings.
Not hating. Just giving the facts.

[Jimmy D]

Nobody is disputing that fact Rick. However, I dont think millions watched the thirty k ski final. Also, all we are saying is the ratings are much stronger than the last World Cup, and that is with a big time difference. Also, bottom line is, the sport is growing over here. There were a LOT of people that said TFC would not survive in Toronto, and now we have teams in Montreal and Vancouver soon, that will make the sport more national than just being Toronto centred. Also, hopefully the Canadian national team will continue to improve and give us all some interest there. I agree with you that people are enjoying the spectacle of the World Cup.
Canadians love hockey, always will, and that is great, but we need a summer sport that allows us to show some national pride and to follow Canadians. MLB only has a sprinkling of Canadian players, and the Jays hardly have any Canadians on the team. I know that I would be so proud to watch some Canadian lads in the World Cup. I do honestly believe that will happen in the next twenty years. The majority of anti soccer people here are the old fart, Bob McCown, Don Cherry types, that cannot see past anything that is not North American, although Don takes that one step further with his disdain of European hockey players.
Anyway, I hope everyone continues to enjoy this World Cup, and that we see some cracking games in the knockout stages. Hopefully the refs wont screw up and the damn vuvuzelas quieten down a bit lol.

[SF]

I think soccer has changed a lot in the last 15 years, and I think it’s a lot more entertaining now. It used to seem very random. The players seemed to be randomly running around on a huge field, mostly missing each other with passes, and then every now and then someone would fluke a goal. Sometimes there would be a penalty, which was often a bad call, and a team would score on the penalty kick. Now, however, I think the technology and overall talent level has risen to the point where there is a discernable flow to the game. Most passes get to the players they were intended for, and you can see what they’re trying to do with it. Many of the shots are more creative too. There is now a strategy and a flow to the game that you can follow.
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NHL hockey, otoh, has gone in the other direction. The technology has improved as has the overall conditioning of the players, but the game has been choked by the size of the ice. There’s a lot less skill in the game today because there’s no room for the skill players to operate. The NHL game has now become quite random with very little flow and mostly fluky and garbage goals. I think pro soccer in Canada, if they stay away from the crying, whining, British style commentators, and the ridiculously overhyped American style commentators, and stick with the intelligent, neutral-positive, Canadian style commentating, could draw large audiences on a regular basis now. I think they could draw a lot of people who grew up on hockey over to being fans of today’s soccer.
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That said, Canada’s summer sport is still CFL football, of course. I don't think soccer will hit those numbers, but I could see it replacing baseball.