TV ratings

[Invader]

Looking at the ratings, the NFL has very little effect on CFL ratings on Sunday. The combined NFL ratings on CTV are up substantially this year but Sunday CFL games have also increased. Those NFL ratings are the combined ratings from all their regional games which show regional ads...that's not one audience. CFL games are shown nationally with Canada-wide advertising and national social media reach...not fragmented like the NFL. Only HNIC on Saturday nights seems to adversely effect CFL ratings going head-to-head.

I also believe the surge in NFL CTV ratings this year is in response to the 'hawks success, who have become very popular across western Canada (where the 'hawks are the "home-team"), which largely drives the national football ratings. This 'hawk balloon can burst just as easily when the team goes into the tank...with NFL ratings likely depressing to their more traditional also-ran level. For example, the Bills in Toronto game last year drew only 265,000 viewers across Canada.

I guess we could combine all the "reality shows" ratings in one timeslot and compare those with "situation comedies" ratings, then claim reality shows are more popular, for example. But this is of little interest to national advertisers or for the increasingly important social media activity. CFL games now generate a huge "trending" national response on social media, which transcend regional NFL games in Canada.

[argos1873]

By that logic, no time is a good time for CFL games because the airwaves have hockey on 7 days a week.

Not really because Saturday night starting in October IS hockey night in Canada. Its not just the name of the show. CFL or other events can draw well against hockey on other nights, but on Saturday nights Canadians tend to watch hockey. I wouldn't go up against that if I were a scheduler, you just couldn't win.

[ArgoRavi]

There seems to be an issue, from what I am seeing on Facebook, that not everyone in the country, even with TSN, is getting CFL football. For instance, people in Winnipeg tonight are getting the Winnipeg Jets game instead of Friday Night Football if they only have one TSN feed. They need to purchase the other four feeds to get the CFL. That may not have a huge impact on ratings but would have some effect.

[argofandave]

I live in Milton and when TSN added the extra feeds, the TSN channel that I got was changed to TSN4. There haven't been any problems yet...........

[ArgoRavi]

I live in Milton and when TSN added the extra feeds, the TSN channel that I got was changed to TSN4. There haven't been any problems yet...........

It is the same for me in Niagara. I think that TSN4 is our "local" TSN. For people in Manitoba it is TSN3 and for those in Ottawa/Eastern Ontario it is TSN5. Unless you pay for the other four feeds or they continue to come as part of a package you are already paying for, you only get the one TSN feed so some people in Manitoba have been missing out on Friday Night Football for the last two or three weeks because the Jets have been playing on Friday nights.

[Neely2005]

My regular TSN was changed to TSN4 as well. We have always had TSN2 so no real change there other than its on a different number now. Rogers immediately added all the other TSN channels for us when they launched.

[Will]

I get all the TSN channels. I'm just waiting for TSN8 the "Huit" with it's outstanding coverage of obscure sports.

[ArgoZ]

I was on vacation a few weeks ago and used the TSN live feed on my tablet to watch the game. I hooked it up to my rooms TV with a HDMI cable. The picture was decent with minimal loads or breaks, all done over a wireless connection. It's great that we can do this nowadays, but it's almost a necessity. It's next to impossible to properly PVR any game, because as soon as you turn on your phone, you get a message or mention on the score.

[ArgoRavi]

Here are the latest ratings from Chris Zelkovich:

Here are the most-watched English-language sports events on Canadian televsion for last weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:
1. NHL, Bruins-Leafs/Devils-Sens/Wings-Flyers/Rangers-Habs, Saturday, CBC: 2,200,000
2. NFL, Colts at Steelers, Sunday, CTV: 784,000
3. NFL, Bills-Jets/Bears-Pats/Seahawks-Panthers, Sunday, CTV: 748,000
4. NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pregame, Saturday, CBC: 684,000
5. CFL, Lions at Blue Bombers, Saturday, TSN: 680,000
6. CFL, Ticats at Argonauts, Saturday, TSN: 601,000
7. World Series, Royals at Giants, Saturday, Sportsnet: 599,000 (Fox viewers not measured)
8. CFL, Roughriders at Stampeders, Friday, TSN: 594,000
9. World Series. Royals at Giants, Friday, Sportsnet: 554,000 (Fox viewers not measured)
10. World Series, Royals at Giants, Sunday, Sportsnet: 541,000 (Fox viewers not measured)
11. NHL, Capitals at Flames, Saturday, CBC: 496,000
12. CFL, Alouettes at RedBlacks, Friday, TSN: 424,000
13. NFL, Lions vs. Falcons, Sunday, TSN: 423,000
14. NHL, Senators at Blackhawks, Sunday, City: 407,000
15. Auto racing, NASCAR Goody's 500, Sunday, TSN: 378,000
16. NFL, Packers at Saints, Sunday, TSN: 363,000 (NBC viewers not measured)
17. NHL, Rogers Home Town Hockey pregame, Sunday, City: 259,000
18. NHL, Canucks at Avalanche, Friday, Sportsnet One: 232,000
19. EPL, Chelsea at Manchester United, Sunday, Sportsnet: 228,000
20. NFL, Eagles at Cardinals, Sunday, TSN: 181,000
21. MLS, Rapids at Whitecaps, Saturday, TSN: 165,000
22. EPL, Hull City at Liverpool, Saturday, Sportsnet: 108,000
23. EPL, Leicester at Swansea, Saturday, Sportsnet: 106,000
24. Football, NCAA games, Saturday, TSN: 103,000
25. Soccer, Canada vs. Japan, Saturday, Sportsnet: 76,000

I thought that the Lions/Bombers game posted an impressive number up against Hockey Night in Canada while the Ticats/Argos game was solid also. What I am most surprised by in the TV ratings is some of the poorer numbers for the NHL. The late game on Saturday night drew less than 500k while the Sunday night game only drew a little over 400k and these games involved Canadian-based teams. I can't imagine that Rogers is happy with those numbers.

I can't recall so few Sunday CFL games in a season than what we have seen this year. Late Sunday CFL games tend to draw quite high numbers but there have been very few of these especially this season. Hopefully an early Sunday start for the Argos/Als (noon) will help in the ratings this week although many out west might still be sleeping when that game kicks off.

BTW, Zelkovich's complete column appears here: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...1.html#more-id

[argotom]

Agreed, I don't understand after posting awesome numbers against the No Funners for all these years, why there are no Suday games in the fall?
A grassy knoll kind of guy would think maybe on purpose the mother CTV network does not want the competition from their TSN family.

[argolio]

This calls for some research...

2014 - 7 Sunday games after Labour Day
2013 - 6
2012 - 6
2011 - 7
2010 - 9
2009 - 8
2008 - 6
2007 - 7
2006 - 5
2005 - 7

That comes out to 7 games on average. Nothing to see here, folks.

[Will]

Is it just me or have ratings for Argos/Ticat games been a bit lower than they have in previous years?

[ArgoRavi]

This calls for some research...

2014 - 7 Sunday games after Labour Day
2013 - 6
2012 - 6
2011 - 7
2010 - 9
2009 - 8
2008 - 6
2007 - 7
2006 - 5
2005 - 7

That comes out to 7 games on average. Nothing to see here, folks.

Good stats, Argolio! I will say that there have been nine extra games this season though with those happening post-Labour Day as the season doesn't end until the final day of November this year. So proportionally, there are fewer Sunday games than in past years.

[argos1873]

Is it just me or have ratings for Argos/Ticat games been a bit lower than they have in previous years?

Could be that both teams are sub 500 and not playing the most exciting ball for most of the season.

[Invader]

Agreed, I don't understand after posting awesome numbers against the No Funners for all these years, why there are no Suday games in the fall?
A grassy knoll kind of guy would think maybe on purpose the mother CTV network does not want the competition from their TSN family.

CFL games get the highest ratings on Sunday, up against the NFL...rather than on Sat. night vs. HNIC. The league is forced to schedule Sunday games for Montreal, which doesn't have access to McGill stadium on Fri. or Sat. during the college football season.

The problem with Sunday CFL games is TSN doesn't promote them, rarely telling their viewers a Sunday game is even being played...instead giving saturation promotion to Sunday NFL games on CTV and TSN during CFL games.

Perhaps TSN believes their NFL audience has room to grow, while anyone who wants to watch a CFL game already knows when the games are on? Unfortunately, that's how it seems to be.

Some of the lower CFL ratings the past two weeks can be attributed to the blacking-out of 50% of the homes in Manitoba and Sask. by TSN, due conflicting Winnipeg NHL games. CFL games were moved to TSN5, which is not subscribed to by over 50% of those households on Shaw cable (with the free TSN trial period over.)

[argos1873]

CFL games get the highest ratings on Sunday, up against the NFL...rather than on Sat. night vs. HNIC. The league is forced to schedule Sunday games for Montreal, which doesn't have access to McGill stadium on Fri. or Sat. during the college football season.

The problem with Sunday CFL games is TSN doesn't promote them, rarely telling their viewers a Sunday game is even being played...instead giving saturation promotion to Sunday NFL games on CTV and TSN during CFL games.

Perhaps TSN believes their NFL audience has room to grow, while anyone who wants to watch a CFL game already knows when the games are on? Unfortunately, that's how it seems to be.

Some of the lower CFL ratings the past two weeks can be attributed to the blacking-out of 50% of the homes in Manitoba and Sask. by TSN, due conflicting Winnipeg NHL games. CFL games were moved to TSN5, which is not subscribed to by over 50% of those households on Shaw cable (with the free TSN trial period over.)

Perhaps TSN/CTV/Bell makes more money from NFL games, regardless of how many people tune in. Don't forget when it comes to advertising its not just how many its who; demographics. Without any science behind it or or hard evidence I would wager that a Canadian who prefers the NFL over the CFL is a better person to market to. Just think about it. The plain fact that they choose the NFL over the CFL is potential evidence that they can be won over with flash and hype which is a big part of modern advertising. You have people cheering and fawning over teams in another country 1000 miles away, because they bought in to the flash and hype. Who would you rather market to if you had a choice, if everything else was equal? Just a thought.

[Neely2005]

For anyone who is interested in how TV Ratings for Sports Bars are calculated:

"Sports has emerged as a big winner. Canada's three biggest sports networks - TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and The Score - have each seen ratings jumps of about 50 per cent.

John Levy, CEO of Score Media, believes this is because the pagers are better at counting groups of people at home or in bars where the audio signal is loud enough to be detected.

BBM estimates out-of-home viewing has pushed TV ratings up by 12 per cent.

"In addition to being more accurate, we're getting out-of-home viewing in these ratings," Mr. Levy said, adding that The Score is now boosting its prices for ads during events such as basketball and English Premiere League soccer.

"It has allowed us to vary our rates a little bit. We did take them up as a result," he said."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle4294090/

Grey Cup ratings reveal game was most-watched sports program of 2013


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle15596026/

Funny how quickly this is forgotten. And it's not like this is anything new:

http://brioux.tv/2009/11/tsns-grey-c...r-bowl-oscars/

And that's with the Superbowl on Free TV and the Grey Cup on Pay TV.

[ArgoRavi]

Something to watch for in Zelkovich's numbers this week:

Scoring isn't the only thing down in the #CFL in 2014. Once again this week, TV viewership is down significantly. NFL's is up significantly.

— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) November 3, 2014

[Neely2005]

Something to watch for in Zelkovich's numbers this week:

Scoring isn't the only thing down in the #CFL in 2014. Once again this week, TV viewership is down significantly. NFL's is up significantly.
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) November 3, 2014

I see there is concern about #CFL ratings from the usual suspects Since the start of the NFL season, CFL 652k ave NFL 562k ave

— Chris Cuthbert (@CCtsn) November 4, 2014

[rdavies]

Hashish Madani our own built in Fifth Columnist