2015 Ti-Cats, CFL and other sports TV ratings

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

I’ve been posting this weekly in the CFL forums but thought some Ti-Cats fans who don’t go to those forums may be interested in how the Cats and the CFL are doing ratings wise.

Another weekend of slightly disappointing CFL ratings. And CBC must hate that the Pan Am games are over because ratings for that were WAY better than expected with over 22 million Canadians having watched some of their coverage over the two weeks. This past weekend the Pan Ams took the Top 3 spots with the Sunday Closing Ceremony topping 1.6 million blowing away the Cats-Riders game on at the same time that drew 549,000.

The Saturday evening Pan Am Prime time drew over 1.1 million more that doubling the Bombers - Eskimo game that came in at 509,000.

The Friday evening Pan Ams Prime Time also drew over 1,000,000 topping the two Friday night CFL games. Redblacks - Stamps the highest of the CFL games at 589,000 with Argos Lions 583,000.

The Friday night Argos - Lions game late Friday did beat the Jays game on at the same time (10PM ET) which drew 504,000. However the Jays drew big number Saturday and Sunday beating any of the weekend CFL games drawing 630,000 Saturday and 718,000 Sunday. That Sunday number excellent considering 500,000 were watching the Canadian Open on Global at the same time. And with the Jays making a trade to improve their lineup today with the acquisition of Tulowitzki it looks like the CFL just might (fingers crossed) have a contending Jays team to compete with into September for the first time in years.

No MLS games made the Top 25.

[url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report-141315971.html]https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-ga ... 15971.html[/url]
Here are the most-watched English-language sports broadcasts from the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

  1. Pan American Games closing ceremonies, Sunday, CBC: 1,605,000

  2. Pan American Games prime time, Saturday, CBC: 1,154,000

  3. Pan American Games prime time, Friday, CBC: 1,024,000

  4. MLB, Blue Jays at Mariners, Sunday, Sportsnet: 718,000

  5. MLB, Blue Jays at Mariners, Saturday, Sportsnet: 630,000

  6. CFL, Stampeders at Redblacks, Friday, TSN: 589,000

  7. Pan Am Games evening, Friday, CBC: 589,000

  8. CFL, Argonauts at Lions, Friday, TSN: 583,000

  9. CFL, Ticats at Roughriders, Sunday, TSN: 549,000

  10. Pan Am Games afternoon, Friday, CBC: 548,000

  11. Pan Am Games afternoon, Saturday, CBC: 522,000

  12. CFL, Blue Bombers at Eskimos, Saturday, TSN: 509,000

  13. MLB, Blue Jays at Mariners, Friday, Sportsnet: 504,000

  14. PGA, Canadian Open final round, Sunday, Global: 500,000

  15. Pan Am Games afternoon, Sunday, CBC: 488,000

  16. Auto racing, NASCAR Jeff Kyle 400, Sunday, TSN: 279,000

  17. Pan Am Games, men’s basketball, U.S. vs. Canada, Friday, Sportsnet: 259,000

  18. Auto racing, F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 255,000

  19. PGA, Canadian Open third round, Saturday, Global: 221,000

  20. Auto racing, F1 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, Saturday, TSN: 175,000

  21. Soccer, Gold Cup final, Mexico vs. Jamaica, Sunday, Sportsnet: 153,000

  22. Pan Am Games, men’s soccer final, Uruguay vs. Mexico, Sunday, Sportsnet: 145,000

  23. MMA, UFC preliminaries, Saturday, TSN: 134,000

  24. Cycling, Tour de France, Sunday, Sportsnet One: 133,000

  25. Pan Am Games, women’s soccer, Canada vs. Mexico, Saturday, Sportsnet One: 131,000

2

Meh… Maybe keep it over in the CFL forums TP. :lol:

3

I think the lightning delay hurt the Cats TV ratings this week. Here is the sports ratings report for this past weekend and as I sort of expected - it is DOMINATED by the Blue Jays with the Price debut almost hitting 1.4 million!. They took the Top 4 spots easily with their highest game more than double the highest CFL game. And a drop of over 380,000 viewers from the 4th place Blue Jays game to the number 5 spot which was the Riders - Esks game - the highest CFL ame of the weekend. In fact the 4 Jays games over the weekend averaged 1,112,000 - the 3 CFL games (no Thursday night rating given again) averaged just barely over half of that at 565,333.

That Cats - Argos number of 558,000 is disappointing to me but I do wonder how big an impact the 29 minute lightning delay followed by only 6 minutes of football (about 15 minutes in real time) followed by the 15 minute halftime hurt those numbers. That was an hour of real time with very little football played. I suspect that lost a lot of casual viewers. I was really hoping for that to be in the 700,000+ range.

And with the Jays playing the Yankees the NEXT TWO weekends those Jays ratings may only grow even more. TOUGH competition for the CFL this summer. (But not from TFC though - only 74,000 watched their game this weekend.)

[url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report--blue-jays-trades-paying-off-already-on-television-202806158.html]https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-ga ... 06158.html[/url]

Here are the most-watched English-language sports events from the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

1. MLB, Twins at Blue Jays, Monday, Sportsnet: 1,390,000

  1. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 1,080,000

  2. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 997,000

  3. MLB, Royals at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 981,000

  4. CFL, Roughriders at Eskimos, Friday, TSN: 600,000

  5. CFL, Argonauts at Tiger-Cats, Monday, TSN: 558,000

  6. CFL, Alouettes at Stampeders, Saturday, TSN: 538,000

  7. Auto racing, NASCAR Windows 400, Sunday, TSN: 329,000

  8. MMA, UFC 190 preliminaries, Saturday, TSN: 194,000

  9. MLB, Angels at Dodgers, Saturday, Sportsnet: 170,000

  10. Hockey, World Jr. Summer Showdown, Canada vs. Russia, Monday, TSN: 163,000

  11. MLB, Nationals at Mets, Sunday, TSN: 155,000

  12. PGA, Quicken Loans National third round, Saturday, TSN: 146,000 (CBS viewers not measured)

  13. Rugby, Pacific Nations Cup, Canada vs. U.S., Monday, TSN: 146,000

  14. MLB, Angels at Dodgers, Friday, Sportsnet: 141,000

  15. MLS, Whitecaps at Seattle, Saturday, TSN: 129,000

  16. PGA Quicken Loans National final round, Sunday, TSN: 87,000 (CBS viewers not measured)

  17. MLS, Toronto FC at New England, Saturday, Sportsnet 360: 74,000

4

1.4 mil that's it? You'd think being close to a WC spot and making big trades (even if for a rental) would have more views.

ANd seriously the PGa Quicken loans final round got more views than TFC. Just wow.

5

Hi Pat, I know this is a TV rating Thread but we want to give a Superior Rating to the TiCat/Argo game, THF facilities, and the TiCat fans-dedicated to the Team and quite friendly to us.
We had a great weekend and hope to be able to come up for one more TiCat home game this year.

6

World cup only comes every 4 years and involves the whole world, rental players come EVERY year and only involve 2 countries. Tonight’s CFL games attendance for tv will probably be lower because the Blue Jays playing the Yankees.

7

I agree tigger - tonight's (soldout - which is good news) CFL game with a 7:30PM start will be negatively impacted by starting 30 minutes after the Jays - Yankees take to the field. Not even publicity surrounding the possible debut of Michael Sam is likely to put a dent into the Jays ratings tonight.

Fortunately for the CFL the other two games this weekend will not be head to head with Jays - Yankees games.

And whoever it was that said 'ONLY 1.4 million?' - that was the second biggest rating EVER for the Jays on Sportsnet and was bigger than ANY CFL regular season game ever - as far as I can tell. Add in some other aspects surrounding those Jays numbers and they become even more impressive.

Eg. - The game being on a glorious holiday Monday afternoon where lots of people would be out doing other things (including me for about half the game).

The fact the Jays play (almost) everyday. With the Cats it is once a week and whenever possible I keep that ONE 3 hour window a week open to be able to be among the approx. 550,000 average who watch that Cats game that week. I usually watch the entire game because it is my team playing just that one time that week. I can't possibly keep seven 3 hour windows open each week to watch all of every Jays games. So Cats games I pretty much watch the entire game and will count as one full person in the average ratings numbers. With the Jays I may watch all of a couple of games a week - but the others I may only catch a couple of innings - so with those other games I'm not counted as a full number for the average viewership of that entire game.

So for the Jays to be averaging throughout their recent games about 1,000,000 for the games Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1.39 million Monday, 1.29 million Tuesday night (and probably similar numbers Wednesday and last night) that likely means there are SEVERAL million tuning in to catch at least part of each of those games. It is very unlikely there are that many people who can watch the entire game night after night.

These seven figure ratings - or at least very close to seven figures ratings for the Jays night after night after night - which will be the case for the next few weeks - is a level of competition for the CFL that even the most avid Jays fan would not have predicted even just eleven days ago.

This poses a HUGE challenge to CFL and by extension TSN - which is getting killed by Sportsnet these days.

8

WC = wild card not World Cup?

it’d be pretty nice if the Toronto media would hype the Argos up as much as a they do for a team barely above .500!

9

that’d be me :wink:

for the only team in Canada and making a pushing for a wc spot and landing an ace.

we know Ontario supports the Jays (416 cant do it by itself imo) and they have a huge following in BC and in the east.

you’d think it would translate to more than 700 000 additional views

10

Oh, sorry, I guess people need to spell the whole word instead of just letters, too much confusion. You’re right the Argos don’t get too much media coverage in Toronto, I don’t really get it.

11

Well, The Arblows have not played in Toronto for 9 months, that does not help things

Mike Hogan ?@tsnmikehogan 2h2 hours ago
It's been nine months since the #Argos played a game at the Rogers Centre(of the Universe).

12

nice try Hogan, everyone has December to july off. maybe if they would have made the playoffs it wouldn’t feel as long hahahahahaha

13

The Argos - Ti-Cats game last Monday evening drew a season high in viewers south of the border with 235,000 the average viewership on ESPN2. Previous high for the season was 201,000.

14

Numbers are boring...and as for the Blue Jays, yes there were allot of TV sets on for their game but who really watches...I was in a pub with about 20 TV's on with baseball and people were asking me when they heard cheering what was going on...no sound and almost no one really watching(mostly partying). Come on it's baseball...you don't really need to see much...I love the Jays 30...they show everything and anything that happened in less than 30 minutes.

15

525,000 for the Cats game Sunday night. The Argos - Riders game highest of the year at 864,000. Those finish number 4 and 5 in the weekend ratings behind - you know who.

[url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report--jays--jays--jays-135310508.html]https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-ga ... 10508.html[/url]
With the Toronto Blue Jays approaching Hockey Night In Canada ratings, you have to wonder just how far this whole baseball mania thing can go. Since the end of the Jose Reyes era, Sportsnet's Blue Jays broadcasts are setting records for the channel and are on a roll almost as good as the team's. Sportsnet has logged seven consecutive million-plus audiences in the past week, which is impressive enough in itself.

But add in the fact that this is happening in mid-August and the prospects for even bigger ratings and longer streaks seems very possible.

Consider the evidence thus far: Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees averaged 1.43 million viewers, only 10,000 behind Sportsnet’s largest-ever audience. That high-water mark was reached during the 2013 home opener, when big off-season deals had the faithful and bandwagon jumpers all in a tizzy.

In addition, the three-game series against New York averaged 1.19 million viewers per game. That’s pretty impressive considering that prior to the mega-deals that thrust the Jays into the headlines, Sportsnet’s broadcasts were averaging about 600,000 a game. They’re now up to 684,000.

Now 1.19 million is basically half of what a Toronto Maple Leafs game draws on a Saturday night, so it’s not realistic to claim that the Jays are poised to supplant those lovable losers in the nation’s hearts, as some media outlets have suggested. But the potential is there, especially considering that the real drama won’t even start until next month.

Two million per game might be a stretch, but the way this team has grabbed Canadians’ attentions makes it a distinct possibility.

Also a distinct possibility is a surge in ratings for the CFL. So far, ratings have been so-so for a league that suffered a drop in audiences last season and hasn’t really recovered this year.

But Saturday’s Saskatchewan-Toronto game drew the biggest CFL audience of the year – 864,000 – and with Labour Day not far off, things could be looking up. The league has been far more competitive this year and once players figure out the rule changes, there will be fewer flags and more excitement.

That bodes well for a league that has taken a back seat to the Blue Jays for the first time in a decade.d

Here are the most-watched sports events from the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

  1. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Sunday, Sportsnet: 1,430,000

  2. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Friday, Sportsnet: 1,290,000

  3. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 1,150,000

  4. CFL, Roughriders at Argonauts, Saturday, TSN: 864,000

  5. CFL, Blue Bombers at Tiger-Cats, Sunday, TSN: 525,000

  6. CFL, Alouettes at Redblacks, Friday, TSN: 446,000

  7. Parapan Games, opening ceremonies, Friday, CBC: 356,000

  8. Parapan Games, prime-time coverage, Saturday, CBC: 343,000

  9. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Sunday, Sportsnet: 288,000

  10. Parapan Games, afternoon coverage, Sunday, CBC: 286,000

  11. Auto racing, NASCAR Cheez-It 355, Sunday, TSN: 265,000

  12. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational final round, Sunday, Global: 257,000

  13. Soccer, West Ham at Arsenal, Sunday, TSN: 211,000

  14. Soccer, Swansea at Chelsea, Saturday, TSN: 185,000

  15. MLS, Salt Lake at Vancouver, Sunday, TSN: 182,000

  16. MLB, Dodgers at Pirates, Saturday, Sportsnet: 182,000

  17. UFC, Teixeira vs. Saint Preux, Saturday, TSN: 180,000

  18. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational third round, Saturday, Global: 162,000

  19. Soccer, Tottenham at Manchester United, Saturday, Sportsnet: 161,000

  20. NFL, Steelers vs. Vikings, Sunday, TSN: 153,000 (NBC viewers not measured)

  21. Parapan Games, afternoon coverage, Saturday, CBC: 145,000

  22. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Friday, Sportsnet: 131,000

  23. Soccer, EPL games, Sunday, TSN: 127,000

  24. Soccer, Aston Villa at Bournemouth, Saturday, Sportsnet: 117,000

  25. MLB, Kansas City at Toronto FC, Saturday, TSN: 112,000

  26. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Saturday, Sportsnet: 105,000

16

I hope everyone is all nicely buckled in aboard the Jays bandwagon, cuz when this crashes it'll be a glorious mess.

The amount of Jays gear i seen at the ticats game was nauseating.

the numbers this weekend make sense, lots of yankee fans in this area and across Canada im assuming.

Between Boston and NY fans they pump up the yearly attendance numbers so why not viewership.

Still though not entirely impressed, they have entire Canada backing them and they can still only get that many eyeballs watching.

Have i mentioned how much i want to see this team fail?! I shouldnt say team the ownership i want to fail but i guess you cant separate the two.

17

I have a theory that one of the reasons ratings are down this year is because the Western teams are not doing as well in general and the Roughriders in particular. Wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers for Saturday’s game are in fact Toronto driven.

18

Don't know how any one can say they think that the Jays numbers should be higher than 1.4 million ..... :roll:
That is pretty good numbers for sports in the summer which is traditionally low viewership except when it comes to special events like the Olympics, WC etc I'm sure the Jays numbers will be huge when they play the Yankees again. I don't buy that all of Canada is watching the Jays, the majority of Jays viewers are in Ontario.

The CFL numbers are usually down in the summer but this year it looks like they are down by 20 Per cent from last year. The one exception was the Riders game, but that's due to the high viewership in Saskatchewan. Seems to be Riders fans driving the viewership again. Fans were turned off by what happened last year not only TV ratings but attendance, the improved play this year should result in more viewers later in the year and attendance won't probably increase until next year.

19

your insecurity is showing

20

Yup - to be averaging over a million when you are playing pretty much every single day - that is impressive - especially for August. If I'm not at a Cats game - I watch every other Cats game - almost always in its entirety. With Jays playing evey day - no way can I watch every game in its entirety - the odd game - sure - but most I only catch 2-3 innings right now. Come September I might go more out of my way to watch more of each game when things are really getting down to the crunch.

So right now with the Jays averaging over 1,000,000 per game of late - that likely means there are 4 million or more watching at least a part of each of their games these days.

For Sportsnet that means not only huge numbers for the games but also the huge lead-in night after night that has Sports Central consistently beating Sportscentre in ratings too.

As Zelkowih said in his blog - come September we are likely to see numbers closer to 2 million - and if they make the playoffs - we'll see Grey Cup-like numbers for the Jays I would think.

This is one of the biggest challenges for attention and viewers the CFL has faced in years. This isn't just a two week Olympics - this is going to be happening almost every night for the next 7+ weeks.

At least the Cats are in good shape with so many tickets already sold in advance for their games - and it is now understandable why the team was so aggressive in their marketing offering discounts for tickets months in advance to get those tickets sold.

The Argos - even with their good play - face a huge challenge now with so many people spending their sports entertainment budget on Jays tickets. Over 39,000 at RC on a Tuesday night last night, likely over 40,000 again tonight, the four games Thursday through Sunday all already 45,000+ sellouts. Good luck selling tickets Argos - because you will need it up against this Jays juggernaut.