Grey Cup 106 Ratings

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
#1

With 3.1 Million people tuning in on TSN for Grey Cup 106. (8.4 million unique viewers)
*not including Mexico or RDS viewing reported by 3downnation

I think there are some reasons,

  1. Ottawa has consistently shown they don’t draw big TV numbers
  2. People are tired of the constant Calgary Stampeders narrative
  3. Lack of excitement during game, partly due to field condition

These are big reasons that could affect a TV draw, but lets be honest it’s the Grey Cup,
this is what our League prides ourselves on and if you are basing a grade on solely tv
viewing numbers, than this Grey Cup, surprisingly falls behind the GC in Ottawa and Toronto, even the GC in Winnipeg that featured Ottawa for the first time.

I believe that having TSN as a partner is as good or better than any other network in Canada. But I believe their parent company needs to jump on board and put the GC on CTV and available to every single basic cable subscriber in Canada, and a more mainstream channel. I’ve gone back and watched GC from 2004 2005 2006, all with CBC and there is something that stuck out to me about those games. You could feel a difference based on the patriotic level of having it on the “Nation’s Network,” for lack of a better term.

Just some ideas, would love to hear what others think!

I don’t think this is a catastrophic event, I would love to see the number with RDS and Mexico but even if that doesn’t move the needle all that much, still think the Grey Cup festival and the whole weekend leading up to the game looked fantastic. Calgary has they’re work cut out for them next year! It’s great to have BIG Grey Cups again! 56,000 people is awesome! 35,000 people for a Grey Cup doesn’t feel like it’s BIG enough for such a grand stage, but we’ll see in 2020 if HAMILTON can make 35,000 people feel like 70,000!.. cuz we have to get the GC in 2020 right ?..RIGHT!?

#2

These numbers are not accurate. They don’t take into account that many people have cut the cord from the large TV providers. People are now using streaming devices such as Android boxes, IPTV and KODI. This is more of a foreboding sign for the cable and satellite providers than it is for the CFL.

#3

Youd think the cable companies could cut rates to try and encourage retention of cable customers.

Im curious to know the American tv numbers. It seems our neighbors to the south are starting to discover what a great product the CFL is!

#4

They are investing a lot to upgrade their networks to meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth.

They are actually indifferent to whether you cancel your cable subscription as long as you continue to pay them for high speed internet service.

#5

They are indifferent if you pay them only $50 a month for internet instead of $150 a month for both cable and internet? I’m not sure how they would be indifferent with 67% less revenue per customer. So I wonder why then I keep getting Cogeco and Bell Fibe solicitations in my mailbox? They really hate me then because I don’t pay them for either.

#6

I didn’t say $50, I said high speed.

Cable TV is a lower margin business because they pay a lot of fees to third parties for the right to carry their channels. Internet service is high margin, once the up-front infrastructure costs are already paid. Cash flow is more important than revenue.

#7

As mentioned above, air the game on CTV and the numbers would double . CTV is part of all basic cable packages and available free to people with antennas as well.