BBM Canada confirmed today that more than 3.3 million Canadians watched TSN’s coverage of the thrilling Canada-United States shootout game on New Year’s Eve – making it the most-watched preliminary round IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP game ever and TSN’s fourth most-watched program of all-time*. The New Year’s Eve Classic is among the top 15 telecasts to air on Canadian television in 2009.
Canada and the United States face each other again in the highly-anticipated Gold Medal Game on Tuesday with TSN’s pre-game broadcast beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Coverage of the Bronze Medal Game featuring Switzerland and Sweden begins on TSN at 4 p.m. ET.
Team Canada’s comeback win on New Year’s Eve was the most-watched program overall on Canadian television – winning the night in total viewers and in all key demographics. Audience levels peaked at 5.4 million viewers at 10:41 p.m. ET, as goaltender Jake Allen made the final save during the shootout to seal the victory for Canada. In addition to the exciting game, fans also watched Alberta farmer Rod Tichon come up just two goals short in his attempt to win $1 million during the Chevrolet Equinox Million Dollar Shootout. Tichon along with three other lucky hockey fans took home all-new Chevrolet Equinox Crossovers as part of the promotion.
The Canada-United States New Year’s Eve game capped off an overwhelmingly successful preliminary round that saw all Team Canada games on TSN record average audiences of more than 2 million viewers:
Canada-United States (Dec. 31) – 3.3 Million
Canada-Latvia (Dec. 26) – 2.5 Million
Canada-Slovakia (Dec. 29) – 2.2 Million
Canada-Switzerland (Dec. 28) – 2.1 Million
Hockey fans have also been following games not involving Team Canada. TSN’s broadcast of the Russia-Switzerland Quarterfinal game attracted more than 1 million viewers and 714,000 tuned in for the United States-Finland game on Saturday.
*Audiences prior to August 31, 2009 based on BBM Nielsen Media Research Mark II meters
