It's certainly within the realm of possibility that the upcoming World Series could be a ratings hit. There are plenty of good story lines between the hairy Boston Red Sox and clean-shaven St. Louis Cardinals that could engage baseball fans.
A seven-game thriller could easily capture the imagination of fans across Canada, especially among men with beards, and send ratings skyward.But to date, things haven't been all that positive in Canada as fans appear to be ignoring the playoffs. For example, Friday's deciding game between the Cards and L.A. Dodgers, exclusive to Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, attracted only 416,000 viewers. That's not even a quarter of the audience for Saturday's Hockey Night In Canada prime-time offering and less than half what Saturday night's CFL game drew on TSN.
Saturday night's dramatic American League game between Boston and Detroit did significantly better, averaging 499,000 viewers -- a total that did not include the unknown numbers who chose to watch the game on Fox. That's not a terrible number, but the league championship series averaged only 383,000 viewers -- down 28 per cent from last year. The division series audiences were also down on Sportsnet, 34 per cent behind 2012.
In a year when Blue Jays ratings were up substantially, it does seem odd that there would be such a drop-off in playoff ratings. Maybe all those disillusioned Jays fans have just had enough baseball for this year and can't bear the prospect of John Farrell being sprayed with champagne.
It's never easy to assess ratings when U.S. channels also carry games, because they don't track Canadian viewers, but it's safe to assume that Peyton Manning's dramatic return to Indianapolis on Sunday night attracted more than 1 million Canadians. The game drew 725,000 viewers to TSN alone.
Here are the weekend overnight ratings as compiled by BBM Canada:
1. NHL, Leafs-Hawks/Preds-Habs, Saturday, CBC: 1,800,000
2. CFL, Lions at Riders, Saturday, TSN: 863,000
3. NFL, Broncos at Colts, Sunday, TSN: 725,000 (NBC ratings not calculated)
4. NFL, 1 p.m. games, Sunday, CTV: 710,000
5. CFL, Argos at Bombers, Saturday, TSN: 650,000
6. CFL, Stampeders at Eskimos, Friday, TSN: 631,000
7. NHL, Flames at Sharks, Saturday, CBC, 565,000
8. MLB, Tigers at Red Sox, Saturday, Sportsnet 499,000 (Fox ratings not calculated)
9. CFL, Ticats at Alouettes, Sunday, TSN: 473,000
10. MLB, Cardinals at Dodgers, Friday, Sportsnet: 416,000
11. NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN2: 297,000
12. NFL, 4 p.m. games, Sunday, Sportsnet: 227,000
3 comments:
Mitch, all US NFL games are simulcasted. So although you maybe watching the NBC station on cable you are watching the CTV feed. All those numbers are counted.
Why aren't Canadians watching baseball playoffs? We never know what game is on is on what channel. The first round was horrible as some games weren't on SNW because of hockey. Don't put one game on one channel one day and another channel the next. Its too confusing!
Mitch, I know why people aren't watching baseball, we dont have enough coverage on behind the scenes stuff about whats really going on! remember in the 80's and early 90's when we all knew every player and their hometown and how they liked their eggs? lol We just dont care about people as much that we dont know. Thats my 2 cents!
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