The Great Canadian Sports Attendance, Marketing and TV Ratings Thread

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

If you don't agree with my content then post constructive content proving otherwise.

Do you really want me to go to your MLS thread and post all their numbers that show how insignificant they are and how nobody outside the stadium gives a shit about them. I thought we had a little tacit agreement that you stay outta my backyard and I stay outta yours.

You don't wanna regurgitate PR pieces? You just don't want to post anything positive, what is so bad about manning up and telling the truth about your motives. Everybody knows it.

[elly63]

I met Lori Kane almost 30 years ago, a great lady and good Island girl. My God she's 53 years old and still hangin' on the LPGA Tour, fantastic.

Green with envy: LPGA stars grace Mosaic
Ryan Storrar cfl.ca

As former BC Lion LB Carl Weathers better known as Chubbs from Happy Gilmour says: Happy Gilmore It's all in the hips

Earlier today Brooke Henderson and Lorie Kane from the LPGA took some time before the CP Women’s Open to stop by Mosaic Stadium for some practice swings and to help improve the Roughriders form!



Not bad to learn from Kane and Henderson. Kane, a member of the LPGA tour since 1996 & a 4-time winner. While Henderson is currently one of the top players on the LPGA circuit and the youngest player to ever win the LPGA KPMG Championship at just age 18.

Suffice to say, Zach Collaros, Duron Carter & Josh Bartel were a little outmatched.

[Prometheus]

JHikka, when one makes empirical claims (i.e., cites data) one must provide direct links to the sources of data on which those claims are based. It’s not just a common courtesy but a basic requirement of valid research. The audience must be able to verify that one’s empirical claims are not only founded on sources, but that the sources on which they are founded are credible.

Could you kindly provide links to sources of any future empirical claims in this thread? In the absence of direct links to sources, empirical claims carry little weight and an objective discussion of the “data” cannot really take place. Thank you.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

JHikka, when one makes empirical claims (i.e., cites data) one must provide direct links to the sources of data on which those claims are based. It’s not just a common courtesy but a basic requirement of valid research. The audience must be able to verify that one’s empirical claims are not only founded on sources, but that the sources on which they are founded are credible.

Could you kindly provide links to sources of any future empirical claims in this thread? In the absence of direct links to sources, empirical claims carry little weight and an objective discussion of the “data” cannot really take place. Thank you.

All TV ratings were courtesy of CFLDB, which I highlighted in the post with the figures. On CFLDB there is also a dedicated sources page. It's a pretty tremendous resource.

stats.cfldb.ca
CFLDB Sources

In particular, CFLDB's TV Ratings stats are sourced from the following:

• @CFL_PR CFL PR Twitter Feed (current)
• @BillBriouxTV Bill Brioux's Twitter Feed (current)
• TV Feeds My Family (current)
• @CCtsn Chris Cuthbert's Twitter Feed (current)
• Chris Zelkovich's Eh Game (to 2016)
• Canadian Sports Media Blog (2012-2014)
• Toronto.com Remote Control Blog (2011)
• Chris Zelkovich's Sports Media Watch (Sept 2010 and prior)
• Jam! Showbiz on Canoe.ca (2000's)

There are formal links to those resources located within the CFLDB Sources page.

In particular, individual games will have, where available, attendance and TV ratings information. Clicking on the boxscore of a game will lead you to this information. The High/Low TV Rating information for the season was available via the season page (such as this).

I should note that TV data for 2017 is mostly missing and 2018 has yet to be added. As well, a number of games through the seasons have gone unreported. I'll likely go through the CFL Forums for last year's ratings data by week to see what those numbers yield.

Thanks.

[Prometheus]

Thank you.

Regarding future TV numbers, I look forward to seeing the URL of the page from which the numbers are taken.

To summarize the TV data for the 2018 CFL season so far, according to available reliable sources:

WEEK 1

Toronto @ Saskatchewan: 660,500
Hamilton @ Calgary: 651,700
Montreal @ BC: 547,600
Edmonton @ Winnipeg: 481,000

"The average audience for the four-games was 585,200, an 11.7 per cent jump from the 523,750 the opening slate drew in 2017. Overall, the CFL and TSN averaged 578,000 viewers per game in 2017, a seven per cent jump from 2016."

Source: https://3downnation.com/2018/06/21/e...-ratings-bump/

WEEK 1

Thank you, Canada! @CFLonTSN Week 1 ratings saw an 11% increase overall (2+) year-over-year & a 29% increase in the 18-49 demographic year-over-year.

Source: https://twitter.com/CFL_PR/status/1009538240649547781

[EpicPonyTime]

It's surprising to me that Edmonton/Winnipeg attracted the lowest viewership of all the week 1 games. It being on a Thursday played a role, for sure, but the Eskimos and Bombers are easily the 2nd/3rd most popular team in the league (debate which one is which) so I would have expected more of a TV audience.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

It's surprising to me that Edmonton/Winnipeg attracted the lowest viewership of all the week 1 games. It being on a Thursday played a role, for sure, but the Eskimos and Bombers are easily the 2nd/3rd most popular team in the league (debate which one is which) so I would have expected more of a TV audience.

The rain delay/storm would have impacted TV audience. Typically two of the better teams for ratings so a bit rough to have the game rained out for hours.

Lightning sparks epic delay of game for Bombers and Eskimos in Winnipeg

[TimB09]

Is the CFL planning on releasing ESPN numbers as well? I'd like to know how much the game was watched in the States. Going on to Twitter, it seemed like there were a lot of people who tuned in to watch.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

It's surprising to me that Edmonton/Winnipeg attracted the lowest viewership of all the week 1 games. It being on a Thursday played a role, for sure, but the Eskimos and Bombers are easily the 2nd/3rd most popular team in the league (debate which one is which) so I would have expected more of a TV audience.

The two protracted rain delays definitely impacted viewership, and it's the same reason why about 90% of the stadium audience left by the time the 4th quarter rolled around... the game didn't end until after 1 am, on a weeknight no less. As I said before, I watched most of the first half from the stands, but I was at home, sleeping in bed when the second half started.

Chalk it up to 'shit happens'.

[cjones2451]

Week 2 numbers are softer, but not surprising considering the blow outs

OTT v SSK - 568,200
WPG v MTL - 401,100 (English only)
HAM v EDM - 495,900
CAL v TOR - 504,600

Average is 492,450 which is down 2% from Week 2 last year

[Acajack]

I was thinking that, with the numbers posted on here for TSN and the 150,00-250,000 viewers that typically watch Alouettes games on RDS, it's likely that most weeks the most-watched CFL game in the country is any one that involves Montreal.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I was thinking that, with the numbers posted on here for TSN and the 150,00-250,000 viewers that typically watch Alouettes games on RDS, it's likely that most weeks the most-watched CFL game in the country is any one that involves Montreal.

Tough to say. RDS numbers are so infrequently available. Here are RDS numbers for 2016 Alouettes games as an example:

Week 4: 201K
Week 6: 180K
Week 10: 166K
Week 12: 95K
Week 19: 74K

[Source]

It's safe to assume RDS numbers for Montreal games float between 100K-200K. If Montreal is playing Winnipeg/Saskatchewan/Edmonton odds are it's the most watched game of the week. If they're playing Calgary/BC or any of the East teams it's less likely. Depends on how the schedule shakes down for that week.

[isaidso]

Do CFL viewership numbers from the USA and other countries get published?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Do CFL viewership numbers from the USA and other countries get published?

I've seen articles where figures between 150,000 and 200,000 have been quoted.

That seems tiny given the population of the U.S. but the sports broadcasting marketplace down there is extremely fragmented down there and aside from the real biggies a whole lot of domestic stuff that has a high degree of mainstream popularity gets somewhere in the same ballpark in terms of numbers.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Do CFL viewership numbers from the USA and other countries get published?

I've seen them sporadically but never on a regular basis. It would be interesting to see... I don't necessarily think there is any kind of widespread fan base growing there, but given that the games are broadcast regularly on ESPN2 and other such channels there is a much more prominent platform for the CFL in the US these days.

It wasn't long ago that CFL games were only carried in the US by obscure pseudo-networks like America One, which held the rights for quite a few years.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by TimB09

Is the CFL planning on releasing ESPN numbers as well? I'd like to know how much the game was watched in the States. Going on to Twitter, it seemed like there were a lot of people who tuned in to watch.

Originally Posted by isaidso

Do CFL viewership numbers from the USA and other countries get published?

Very infrequently.

Here are some numbers from last season.

Originally Posted by AwfulAnnouncing

The week’s three “Canadian Football League” games on ESPN2 each saw increases from the year-ago comparable telecasts. Ottawa-Toronto on Monday, July 24 (154,000 viewers) was up 4 percent (Montreal-Toronto on July 25, 2016: 148,000 viewers); Montreal-Winnipeg on Thursday, July 27 (235,000 viewers) rose an impressive 99 percent (Winnipeg-Edmonton on July 28, 2016: 127,000 viewers); and, BC-Edmonton on Friday, July 28 (142,000 viewers) grew 53 percent (BC-Calgary on July 29, 2016: 93,000 viewers).

[elly63]

Argos set to give away 5,000 ‘Toronto’ shirts
Carlos Verde The Snap cfl.ca July 7, 2018

The Toronto Argonauts are continuing to go all-out for fans in 2018.

First, there was the giveaway of thousands of replica Grey Cup rings at the home opener.

Now, the team is offering sweet Toronto-themed t-shirts to the first 5,000 people to the Shipyard prior to Saturday’s game against Edmonton.

[Denscity]

“Sweet”

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Denscity

“Sweet”

It's like we used to say working in the bars. It's a GFS. Guaranteed Fight Starter

MLSE management thought up and is promoting this strategy.

[MonctonRad]

Nothing like a Toronto centric view of the universe.........