The World Juniors on TSN continues to be Canada’s favourite holiday TV tradition, as preliminary overnight data from Numeris confirms an average audience of 2.9 million viewers tuned in to TSN (2.6 million)and RDS (300,000) to watch Team Canada’s clash with the USA on Boxing Day.
Team Canada’s 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship debut ranks as the most-watched World Juniors opening game ever held outside North America, and the top-rated hockey game on any network to date in the 2015/16 broadcast year.
The game was the most-watched program of the day on Canadian television in all key demographics, elevating TSN to the #1 network in Canada on December 26 – ahead of all conventional networks by a margin of at least 52%.
Overall, 6.6 million unique Canadian viewers tuned in to watch TSN and RDS’s exclusive coverage of Canada’s World Juniors opener against the USA on Boxing Day, live from Helsinki, Finland.
The average audience for the Canada-USA opener on TSN and RDS was more than triple Team Canada’s opening Boxing Day game in 2013 – the last time the tournament took place in Europe.
With wall-to-wall coverage of the World Juniors and the SPENGLER CUP across TSN’s five national feeds, the network attracted 8.4 million unique Canadian viewers in total on Boxing Day.
On Twitter, various World Juniors-related hashtags were trending across Canada throughout Boxing Day, including TSN’s official World Juniors hashtag #HereWeGo.
TSN and RDS’s exclusive live coverage of the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship continues with four games tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 31), highlighted by Team Canada taking on Sweden at 1 p.m. ET.
Broadcast Schedule
TSN’s broadcast schedule for 2016 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP is as follows*:
Thursday, Dec. 31
- Russia vs. Slovakia at 7 a.m. ET on TSN2
- Denmark vs. USA at 9 a.m. ET on TSN
- Finland vs. Czech Republic at 11 a.m. ET on TSN2
- Canada vs. Sweden at 1 p.m. ET on TSN
Saturday, Jan. 2
- Quarter-final #1 at 7 a.m. ET on TSN
- Quarter-final #2 at 9 a.m. ET on TSN
- Quarter-final #3 at 11 a.m. ET on TSN
- Quarter-final #4 at 1 p.m. ET on TSN
Sunday, Jan. 4
- Semifinal #1 at 9 a.m. ET on TSN
- Semifinal #2 at 1 p.m. ET on TSN
Tuesday, Jan. 5
- Bronze Medal Game at 9 a.m. ET on TSN
- Gold Medal Game at 1:30 p.m. ET on TSN
*Schedule subject to change
Source: Numeris
