National Post (National Edition)
NFL ratings dip, eh? Not here in Canada
DRIVEN BY YOUNG ADULTS, LEAGUE’S POPULARITY HAS NEVER BEEN HIGHER NORTH OF BORDER
Hey, whose game is it anyway? While NFL TV ratings have plunged this season in America, Postmedia has learned they’re up substantially in Canada — especially among young adults.
Season to date, average audience viewership numbers have risen eight per cent in Canada over last year on all networks.
English-language NFL games in Canada — except Thursday nighters on Sportsnet — are shown on CTV, CTV Two or TSN. That trio’s ratings are up not only six per cent over last year, but a whopping 26 per cent among adults aged 18-34.
Those aren’t the only key takeaways from Numeris figures obtained by Postmedia (which exclude Sportsnet telecasts). Others:
OUTDRAWING EVERYTHING BUT EARLY HNIC
The most-watched weekly NFL game in Canada — late afternoon on Sundays — usually draws more Canadian TV viewers each weekend than every other sports event except for the early Hockey Night in Canada NHL game on Saturdays.
This season, those late-afternoon Sunday games are averaging 893,000 Canadian viewers — up seven per cent from last year overall, and up 23 per cent among adults 18-34.
The latter is a trend, not a coincidence — and might be the most impactful take-away from these ratings revelations.
YOUNG CANADIANS
Indeed, young Canadian adults may rank among the NFL’s fastest growing sub-set of fans — anywhere.
Viewership in their demo for early Sunday afternoon games is up 22 per cent through Week 10, and up a staggering 46 per cent for Monday night games. Even Sunday night ratings are up 11 per cent in this Canadian demo.
Compare the latter to an overall drop south of the border of 14 per cent for Sunday Night Football, and an overall drop of 15 per cent, which includes a 16 per cent drop in the American 18-49 demo.
These ratings jumps among young Canadian adults seem to confirm a growing anecdotal sense that the NFL’s popularity in Canada increases with each generation.
LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN FURTHER PERSPECTIVE
Last weekend’s Sunday lateafternoon NFL game, DallasPittsburgh, outgrew even the CFL Eastern semifinal playoff game — 981,000 to 903,000. The Western semi drew 1.06 million.
Previously this season, Sunday NFL games regularly thumped late-season Sunday CFL games. That is, from early September through early November, according to weekly Numeris numbers posted by Yahoo Sports Canada.
For instance on the weekend of Oct. 22-23, three early Hockey Night in Canada games (Toronto-Chicago, Montreal-Boston and Ottawa-Tampa Bay) collectively topped all weekend sports programming in Canada, with 1.91 million viewers.
The late-afternoon NFL games that weekend (PittsburghNew England and Atlanta-San Diego) together drew 963,000 — making it the second-most watched sports program in the nation that weekend, ahead of both the late HNIC game (Vancouver-L. A.: 887,000) and the Sunday NHL game (EdmontonWinnipeg: 873,000).
The fifth-most watched sports program that weekend was the early-afternoon Sunday NFL telecast (Buffalo-Miami, Minnesota-Philadelphia, BaltimoreNew York Jets: 800,000).
Rounding out the Oct. 22-23 weekend’s top 10: the Heritage Classic old-timers hockey game (693,000), an NLCS game between the Chicago Cubs and L.A. Dodgers (637,000), the early Friday night CFL game (HamiltonOttawa: 617,000), the late Friday night CFL game (Toronto-Calgary: 530,000) and the Saturday CFL game (Edmonton-BC: 499,000).
Should this year’s average of 893,000 viewers for lateafternoon Sunday NFL games continue, it would constitute a rise of 14 per cent since 2014, when the average audience was 784,000.
MONDAY NIGHTS OUTDRAW SUNDAY NIGHTS
Canadians have markedly different prime-time NFL tastes from Americans.
Monday Night Football hasn’t been the NFL ratings darling in the States since Sunday Night Football was added in 2006. But in Canada through Week 10 this season, MNF has averaged 447,000 viewers, up 12 per cent. Compare that to 360,000 for SNF — 19 per cent fewer.
In the U.S. it’s the opposite, and it isn’t even close. NBC’s Sunday telecasts again last year proved to be the most popular show on American television, averaging nearly 23 million viewers — nearly double that for Monday Night Football, which airs on ESPN.
EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Viewership for Sunday early-afternoon games through Week 10 averages 745,000 in Canada — up 14 per cent.
Most weeks, CTV in this time slot delivers different games across the country to maximize local interest. This helps to boost the collective rating. Toronto usually gets the Buffalo Bills, Atlantic Canada the New England Patriots, Montreal the New York Giants, Winnipeg the Minnesota Vikings, and both Alberta and British Columbia the Seattle Seahawks.
CONTINUES A TREND
No one should be too surprised by the NFL’s viewing popularity in Canada compared to America. Just look at ratings for the past two Super Bowls.
The game following the 2014 season — Super Bowl XLIX, in which New England edged Seattle — was viewed by more people in Canada than in the United States on a per-capita basis.
About 55 per cent of all Canadians (19.3 million of 35.1 million) watched at least part of that game, either on English broadcaster CTV or French network RDS. By comparison, 51 per cent of all Americans (161.3 million of 316.1 million) watched the game on NBC, according to statistics by the NFL.
Similarly, 18 million Canadians watched at least part of last February’s Super Bowl 50, in which Denver dropped Carolina. That’s 52 per cent of the country — the same percentage as Americans (167 million) who watched at least part of that game.
So for two years in a row now, at least as many Canadians as Americans watched the Super Bowl per capita.
Other NFL playoff games likewise have drawn huge numbers of Canadian viewers. In January, 2015, 12 Hockey Night in Canada games (early and late combined) averaged 1.28 million viewers. Ten NFL playoff games averaged 1.45 million. Similarly, this past January, HNIC’s doubleheader averaged 1.25 million viewers, whereas NFL playoff games averaged 1.50 million.
Remember that divisional playoff game two Januarys ago between Green Bay and Dallas, when the referee after replay review overturned a seemingly good catch by Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant? That game drew 1.6 million Canadian viewers and peaked at 2.3 million near game’s end.
Last January’s AFC and NFC championship games drew monster numbers. Some 2.8 million Canadians watched Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos beat Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in the AFC title game, a 30-per-cent increase yearover-year. Viewership peaked at 4.63 million.
Extrapolate all this data, and imagine how much more popular the NFL would become in Canada when, some day down the road, a team inevitably decides to relocate up here — probably to Toronto, probably next decade.
That is, as long as they’re allowed to pass through Donald Trump’s Northern Wall.