Hockey was number 1 on Tuesday night! The Canadiens-Senators game on Halloween night was the most watched program on television in Quebec that evening.
The hockey game had an average of 840,000 viewers between 7pm and 10pm on RDS, on cable. The closest show on traditional tv had 815,000 viewers. This was attributed to less people watching tv on Halloween and hockey ratings are 20% up since the beginning of the season from predictions RDS made to ad agencies.
From the Ottawa Citizen I have learned you can watch past NHL games on Google.
"The National Hockey League and Google's video website have teamed up to make full-length, regular season hockey games available in cyberspace.
Fans need only log on to www.video.google.com/nhl.html, select a team and then choose an archived game. The site already features games dating back to early October, and new games will be available roughly two days after they're broadcast.
Google is also posting classic NHL games for free. Currently the site features Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Final between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders."
Google night in Canada
Full Version: TV Ratings
Hey Zeno:
The Leafs continue to dominate the Toronto sports TV ratings. Their game in Tampa Bay on TSN on Wednesday night drew 667,000 viewers - swamping their basketball cousins. The Raptors opening game in New Jersey drew 111,000 viewers over on the Score at the same time. Raptors are always toast when they have to go head to head with the Leafs. Maybe they'll do a bit better tonight with their home opener with there being no Leaf game tonight. I'm sure tomorrow night the Leafs will draw their usual 1.5 million or so for their regular weekly appearance on Hockey Night in Canada - this time from Buffalo. As I mentioned over in the Sabres thread - it should be a wild night at the HSBC - with apparently over 5,000 Leaf fans expected at the game.
Last night the Leafs made their movie theatre debut with their game in Florida. The Leafs are showing all their games that are only being shown on Leafs TV - their digital station - at various movie theatres throughout Ontario for $11.00 a ticket. Apparently the turn out was pretty good a most theatres showing it last night - although apparently there were some problems with the HD picture being a bit fuzzy at times. According to newspaper reports from some theatres the crowd had lots of fun - even standing for the anthems - chanting GO Leafs GO! etc. Too bad the Leafs did nothing for the first two periods and lost though.
The Leafs continue to dominate the Toronto sports TV ratings. Their game in Tampa Bay on TSN on Wednesday night drew 667,000 viewers - swamping their basketball cousins. The Raptors opening game in New Jersey drew 111,000 viewers over on the Score at the same time. Raptors are always toast when they have to go head to head with the Leafs. Maybe they'll do a bit better tonight with their home opener with there being no Leaf game tonight. I'm sure tomorrow night the Leafs will draw their usual 1.5 million or so for their regular weekly appearance on Hockey Night in Canada - this time from Buffalo. As I mentioned over in the Sabres thread - it should be a wild night at the HSBC - with apparently over 5,000 Leaf fans expected at the game.
Last night the Leafs made their movie theatre debut with their game in Florida. The Leafs are showing all their games that are only being shown on Leafs TV - their digital station - at various movie theatres throughout Ontario for $11.00 a ticket. Apparently the turn out was pretty good a most theatres showing it last night - although apparently there were some problems with the HD picture being a bit fuzzy at times. According to newspaper reports from some theatres the crowd had lots of fun - even standing for the anthems - chanting GO Leafs GO! etc. Too bad the Leafs did nothing for the first two periods and lost though.
Today's Toronto Star: Hockey ratings take a tumble
QUOTE
Hockey Night In Canada ratings are off 19 per cent for the early game and a whopping 33 per cent for the late one compared to last year. TSN's ratings have dropped 18 per cent.
That follows a season that saw CBC ratings soar to their highest level in more than a decade and TSN's set an all-time record.
That follows a season that saw CBC ratings soar to their highest level in more than a decade and TSN's set an all-time record.
I wonder how ratings are on Versus -- and if they've gotten their network onto more basic cable systems?
TV viewership of the Canadiens games on RDS is up 27% for the first 41 games with an average of 700,000. The team was surprisingly strong in the first half of the season but started to falter since 3 weeks so that could affect future numbers. The most watched is the Tuesday night game with 769,000. The biggest increase is the Saturday night game, up 37%. 40% of 25-54 age viewers are female.
Some movie theatre is interested in showing Canadiens games, apparently they do it other Canadian NHL cities (I learned of Toronto doing it on this board).
Some movie theatre is interested in showing Canadiens games, apparently they do it other Canadian NHL cities (I learned of Toronto doing it on this board).
The All-star game had a drop of 76% in household viewership on Versus compared to the 2004 all-star game. It got 474,000 households and 673,000 viewers.
On CBC viewership was up 6% to 1.2 million.
On CBC viewership was up 6% to 1.2 million.
The dismal ratings and other problems are discussed in this article, which starts brilliantly with:
QUOTE
Everyone has a favorite conspiracy theory about the NBA. Some like the idea that David Stern fixed the 1984 draft lottery. Others favor his supposed secret suspension of a star player for gambling problems.
Mine dates back to the early 1990s, when the NHL was white hot with fans and never better on the ice. Wayne Gretzky was in Los Angeles. Mark Messier was with the New York Rangers, who were on the verge of ending their Stanley Cup drought. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy and many others were hitting their prime.
Anyone who doesn't think hockey can work in America is forgetting this era. All of a sudden, hockey was challenging, if not beating, the NBA in a number of major U.S. markets – including New York. It's almost impossible to imagine now, but it happened.
As the conspiracy theory goes, Stern sensed the potential trouble in 1993 while the NHL was in search of a new commissioner. So he looked around his own office for someone so incompetent that if they got the job, the NHL would be marginalized by their mismanagement and never again be a threat to the NBA.
Naturally, Stern recommended one of his assistants, Gary Bettman, for the job.
True story or not, it worked.
Mine dates back to the early 1990s, when the NHL was white hot with fans and never better on the ice. Wayne Gretzky was in Los Angeles. Mark Messier was with the New York Rangers, who were on the verge of ending their Stanley Cup drought. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy and many others were hitting their prime.
Anyone who doesn't think hockey can work in America is forgetting this era. All of a sudden, hockey was challenging, if not beating, the NBA in a number of major U.S. markets – including New York. It's almost impossible to imagine now, but it happened.
As the conspiracy theory goes, Stern sensed the potential trouble in 1993 while the NHL was in search of a new commissioner. So he looked around his own office for someone so incompetent that if they got the job, the NHL would be marginalized by their mismanagement and never again be a threat to the NBA.
Naturally, Stern recommended one of his assistants, Gary Bettman, for the job.
True story or not, it worked.
The NY Times reports this a.m. that a whopping 736 households in the NYC area watched last Saturday's Devils - Panthers game. 
That's a 0.01 nielsen rating.
That's a 0.01 nielsen rating.
Hey, the Sabres-Islanders game had 8,000 households. What more do you want? 
More news that proves Canadians truly are hockey mad from last weekends ratings of all sport programs on TV in Canada. The # 1 ranking went to TSN's coverage of the NHL Draft at an average viewing audience of 442,000 viewers. Even the Blue Jays return to CBC and a near no-hitter by Blue Jay pitcher Dustin McGowan on Sunday could not top that - with that game coming in the # 2 spot with 373,000 viewers.
And yet Gary Bettman continues to do all he can to prevent a team moving to Hamilton while considering expansion into places like Kansas City where you would be lucky to find 5 people who knew that the draft took place this past weekend.
And yet Gary Bettman continues to do all he can to prevent a team moving to Hamilton while considering expansion into places like Kansas City where you would be lucky to find 5 people who knew that the draft took place this past weekend.
NHL needs to get back on ESPN2!!!
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