CFL TV ratings, marketing and profitable teams.

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/cfl-targets-generation-next/article1814225/]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... le1814225/[/url]

[i]This season’s television ratings show that CFL’s audience is growing overall, and continuing to grow younger. Average viewership in the coveted 18-34 age group was 163,000, up 13 per cent on a comparable basis from a year earlier...

...That key 18-34 group now accounts for 20 per cent of the CFL’s total audience, double that of 2007....

...CFL broadcasts are their most watched property, with an average viewership of more than 800,000, exceeding the average of 714,000 watching TSN’s National Hockey League broadcasts...

...All eight teams have stable ownership, while six of the eight are either break-even or profitable. But the two that aren’t – Toronto and Hamilton – get to the heart of perhaps Cohon’s biggest failing: He still isn’t winning over the country’s biggest population and business base, southern Ontario.

The East Division semi-final game this month featuring Toronto and Hamilton attracted an average TV audience of 1.2 million, barely half the 2.1 million who tuned in to the West Division semi-final later the same afternoon.[/i]

And form another article entitled CFL TV ratings go through the roof http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... le1814305/

[i] industry sources predict a handsome increase for the league over the $80-million/five-year term on its exclusive TSN contract that expires in 2012...

...Last Sunday afternoon’s Western final set a record with 2.54 million viewers watching the Roughriders upset the Stampeders. In the Eastern final, 1.7 million saw the Alouettes eviscerate the Argos – 599,000 of them in French on RDS. So far, 11.2 million viewers have tuned to some or all of the CFL playoffs. The semi-final games, meanwhile, were up 13 per cent over 2009’s first round.

As last Sunday’s number shows, there are still many Toronto fans when it comes to watching TV if not buying a ticket.[/i]

lets not forget though that the hamilton toronto playoff game was competing with the nfl 1 o'clock games, i do not know if the bills game was blacked out here, but their are people up here that are bills fans, just a lil thought into the poor ratings, if you can even call them poor

There are enough people in Southern Ontario to sell out IWS for the EDSF and match the WDSF television viewership. A few thousand delusional Ontario based Bills fans should be of no consequence.

Hamilton and Toronto, it's a huge problem. Don't know what the answer is but knocking the Bills and the NFL doesn't help.

A new stadium in Hamilton should go a long way to increase interest in the Hamilton area.

The ARgo Ticat semi-final, HALF the viewer ship of the Wetern Semi - that was pathetic. Maybe its time to schedule Eastern games on a Saturday

The Argos are a lost cause, the best thing would be a move to Mississauga/Oakville or somewhere in the burbs or let them die. One team in Southern Ontario is enough.

1.2m is not poor. Those are very good numbers.

Aside from the Bills being a bad team, what’s delusional about liking them? And from what I’ve seen in my day-to-day life, it’s more than a few thousand. The Bills are very popular thanks to their four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s.

One thing missing from this article is where the 1.2 million and 2.1 million viewers were. Does anyone else think it's possible that a lot of eastern viewers, after watching the eastern final, kept their TVs on and watched the western final, but western fans didn't bother tuning in until their own final was on?

If the games had been in the other order, what would the viewership numbers have been like? Maybe next year, they should try holding the western final first and see what happens.

I don’t think there was a breakdown of how many Easterners or Westerners were watching. My guess is that most of the 1.2 million were from outside of Southern Ontario. Holding the Western final first would probably have the same results.
It’s Sunday and a lot of people in Southern Ontario are watcing NFL games at 1PM and then a 4PM.

The CFL should try having the Eastern final on Saturday and the Western final Sunday and then compare the numbers.

I’m not sure that Southern Ontario has a monopoly on NFL fans. I know a lot of people across the contry who prefer the NFL to the CFL. Well, except in Saskatchewan. :wink:

But the question remains - how many eastern fans watched both games vs. western fans.

First off, with the time zone difference, the eastern final would have been on at 12:00 in Saskatchewan, 11:00 in Alberta, and 10:00 BC. To some people, that’s a little early to be thinking about watching football. Second, there’s the attitude in the west that the eastern division is weaker than the west and isn’t worth watching. (How often did I hear “The Western Final is the REAL Grey Cup” when I lived out there?) Third, with the Arrgh-hos getting in, it looked like it would probably be a blowout, which it was, so again, why bother watching?

Anybody know where we could get these statistics?

I know a lot of people across the contry who prefer the NFL to the CFL

I'm not sure that's really that important and right now, with the CFL season over, I prefer the NFL to the CFL and from now to the CFL season I'll be watching all NFL rather than combined like I've been doing. :wink: All I'm saying is that I live in Hamilton, someone might live in Red Deer, someone else in wherever but CFL stadiums have an advantage of being closer to where we live generally and for those of us who aren't into travelling too far to attend a football game, I'm one of those, the CFL fits the bill quite nicely and combine it of course with the ability to win our Grey Cup. I bet there are season ticket holders for teams in the CFL that actually prefer the NFL over the CFL generally speaking, for whatever reasons.

Not sure where to get those stats CatsFan.

I was specifically referring to watching football on TV, to people who would prefer to watch an NFL game over a CFL game. This was in response to Mikem’s statement that “It’s Sunday and a lot of people in Southern Ontario are watcing NFL games at 1PM and then a [sic] 4PM.” I suspect that Southern Ontario isn’t that different from the rest of the country (at least not in this aspect :wink: ).

I too enjoy watching the NFL. A different style of game, but almost as entertaining. But I’ll always pick watching CFL over NFL. I’ve been a CFL fan for much longer, and am more personally invested in it, if that makes sense.

Makes perfect sense about personal vested as you say, that's how I feel about the CFL and TigerCats. Going to games I feel a sense of community involvement with sports, that some of my money for tickets is helping a local business that employs people living in the city or near the city. I like that. With the Vikings, my favourite NFL team, it's just about wanting to see them win. Me buying the odd cap or tshirt from my local sports store isn't nearly as personal if you will and don't feel it's contributing much to my local community. So there is less emotionalism with the Vikings from a contribution aspect locally, which I feel is important to me and I think to you and others as well.
I feel proud when I can say to someone "I'm a season ticket holder for the Cats" because I know it's not just about a sports team. And I think people of any team they spend tickets on should feel the same, or anything on for their local team. I feel a bit bad for the Bulldogs but unfortunately I'm not a big fan of hockey and being inside in arenas and the TigerCats max me out. But people into hockey around here should try and get into the Bulldogs and go to games, it's a shame the attendance they get.

Without the argos the ticats would not have had a good crowd this season not sure about 2010 but previous years the argos have had better attendance than the cats …maybe the cats are the lost cause … no commitment after next season no new stadium plans that are even viable yet … shall I continue the reasons?

ryck:

     The only cure for bad attendance is a winning team. 
     The last two seasons have been mediocre and instead of building continuity we ended up being stagnant.
      With the situation that has faced this team this team since the Marcel Desjardins-Charlie Taafe regime, I would have preferred some Tillman-like bold moves instead. That stuff creates fan-interest and shows the fans the team is serious about getting results. It does not have to end up like Dan Snyder's team. Good things can come from change.

What worries me is that the Mike Gibson situation is being resolved my Mike himself who has personal reasons for leaving. Knowing now that the team was ready to give him a contract extension last May (why???) makes me wonder how we will ever reach the kind of excellence that we see in Montreal.

The only cure for bad attendance is a winning team.
not exactly........check out the attendance in 1998,1999, 2000 :wink:

deer: I am more interested in what’s happening now.

....I believe a greater focus should be made by the CFL to reach into the immigrant communities and make newcomers to Canada feel more inclusive in becoming football fans. It's a new game to them and it would be awesome to try to teach them what it's all about.

........just an idea :slight_smile:

Immigrants are into soccer. But with an owner like Bob Young who wants to bring into Hamilton a higher level of soccer than what Hamilton has, not sure what Hamilton has at present, it bodes well for both soccer and getting some soccer fans into football and vica versa. MLSE should have known that and maybe that lame MLS Cup thing would have been a better atmosphere to get more of us into it. If Rogers ends up buying MLSE and TFC, it'll be interesting what they do with TFC since it's mainly all about the Leafs with this purchase. But Toronto won't be hosting an MLS Cup any time soon again and TFC sells out BMO easy even if the team hasn't made the playoffs in years.

Bottom line, soccer and football make great bedmates I think any way you look at it. Right now I believe that TFC would be worth more if they had more connections with the Argos, and of course vica versa I suppose as I say.

Both Rogers and MLSE take sports fans in Toronto and area for granted I think.

Well Earl, it used to be thought that only aboriginal people would be interested in lacrosse but in recent years some clever and forward thinking minds thought otherwise, so, I'm sure if the CFL started thinking smart, they would see that they have largely ignored a huge potential fan base in Hamilton and Toronto ie: new Canadians who immigrated here from other parts of the world.