We have four months to go until the CFL season, so we will make do with everything else for now.
It’s time for a new ratings thread, a periodic favourite of the CFL Forum with occasional fiery hot takes too.
This example for such a take is only a test since it’s the first post, so please do not be alarmed if the case, for this is only a test and it does not count.
That damn Taylor Swift and those Chiefs won the day for the ratings again.
And there was not a damn thing you could do about it other than not watch, but admit it, many of you did anyway, and you liked it too.
It was the most-watched AFC Championship on TV since the late 1980s, when they started measuring the ratings.
I’m just going to say the most-watched such game EVER, and a record for the sportscasting legend who is also a CFL Fan and forum friend Jim Nantz, because millions like me were watching on Paramount+ and not on a TV.
CBS averaged an audience of 57.7 million for the AFC title game between the Bills and Chiefs, dramatically won by Kansas City 32–29, with that viewership representing the most-watched AFC championship game since the late 1980s advent of Nielsen’s People Meter measurement system. The figure surpassed last year’s NFC title contest, also played in the later 6:30 p.m. ET broadcast slot and drawing 56.7 million, by 1.7%.
I watched because of Taylor. I sort of lost interest in the NFL and Bills when I found out the Bills lost to the TigerCats. It’s just not the same anymore
The most-watched event in US television history remains the moon landing estimated at a peak of 150 million in the US, which was before many of us were born, but anyway this blowout Super Bowl won by the Philadelphia Eagles, the new champs, was still the second-most watched event in US television history!
Even in an emphatic rout for the Eagles, Super Bowl LIX made U.S. television history.
The game, won by Philadelphia over Kansas City 40-22, drew an average audience of 126 million on Fox, according to initial projections. The figure beat last year’s Super Bowl by 2% and set a new mark as the most-watched event ever on U.S. television.
The unprecedented figure defied normal viewership trends in a blowout game such as this, which typically would show a sizable reduction in viewers in the latter portion of the competition. Super Bowl LIX, however, featured two popular teams (the Eagles and Chiefs), numerous pop culture intersections highlighted by music superstars Taylor Swift and halftime entertainment Kendrick Lamar, and an appearance by U.S. President Donald Trump that was the first to the NFL title game by a sitting commander-in-chief.
The game audience peaked in the second quarter with a figure of 135.7 million.
Also of note is that this was the first Super Bowl with a free streaming option, which was facilitated via Tubi, which I used to watch it because I had to be at work though for a very quiet shift and enjoyable all the same. The streaming audience had to be a record in the US as well.
And then much like CFL+, the sign-up was free and easy, no new to create some stupid account and password, and all that nonsense just to do watch TV, sort of like we’ve been doing our entire lives until some of those dweebs and bojacks came around and “reverse improve” everything because they thought it would be cool to have a new streaming app for every single channel out there!
MONTREAL — The fever that swept social media Saturday night during the U.S.-Canada 4 Nations Face Off game translated to massive viewership for ABC.
The game broadcast averaged 4.4 million viewers in the U.S., peaking at 5.2 million, according to ESPN.
That’s the most-viewed non Stanley Cup Final hockey broadcast since 2019. (2024’s Stanley Cup Final Game 7 averaged 7.7 million viewers.) It’s also a 369% bounce from NHL on ABC’s average viewership this season.
The numbers are massive for the NHL’s tournament that replaced this season’s All-Star Game, especially considering the league’s regular-season ratings have been unimpressive, the tournament was brand new this year, and the game went up against the NBA’s All-Star weekend.
Gary Bettman still has not learned at least one lesson from Captain Obvious, but I figure his successor will get it.
Don’t put your product so often behind not only a paywall, but behind numerous paywalls, including mere cable channels and those stupid restricted or paid regional sports networks years now after most folks have cut that cord.
Also of note is that Disney and ESPN were able to expand the reach for these record ratings by offering the 4 Nations Face-Off final on also Disney+, for those without ESPN+ or the Disney bundle and who are more casual sports fans, which in the US is quite common for the winter Olympics, including for hockey.
Even so ESPN+ earned a non-NFL record, so on top of that via Disney+ is even more impressive.
At long last as projected for August 2025, Disney has plans to introduce a revamped streaming offering for ESPN and sports coverage, and perhaps it will be behind only one paywall instead of the annoying two or more paywalls at hand since they launched ESPN+ in 2018.
Bit late to the party but maybe you can clear something up for me. On one hand it says 4.4 million viewers. Then later it says 4.4 million US viewers. If the second is true then what was the total and would the total have exceeded the 7.7M?
Going from graphic, the total viewers were at 9.3M with the peak 10.4M across ALL ESPN platforms.
The platforms are all noted at the bottom in addition to ESPN, but of course the final was not on ABC.
This is also the first time ever that I have heard of that ESPN putting a sporting event, which they did for the final, on also Disney+ without a subscription to ESPN+ or to the Disney bundle.
As noted in the graphic as well, 4.3M was the AVERAGE number of viewers on ESPN platforms for the four games in which Team USA were playing in the tournament, which were all aired in the US on ESPN except for the first USA-Canada game, which was on ABC (though it could have been simulcast on ESPN as well).
