A dramatic game and now a dramatic audience! Overnight data from BBM Canada confirms that a record audience of 6.88 million viewers watched last night’s 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game on TSN and RDS. Overall, the game was watched by 14.2 million unique viewers – or close to half of the country’s population – who tuned in to watch some or all of last night’s broadcast on TSN and RDS.
TSN’s average audience for the dramatic game was an outstanding 6.23 million viewers an all-time record for the network and the most-watched telecast on Canadian television since the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, delivering more viewers than both THE 82ND ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS ® (5.9 million) and SUPER BOWL XLIV (6.03 million).
RDS registered its second highest audience ever for a World Juniors game with 652,000 viewers.
The audience for the Canada-Russia gold medal game peaked at a remarkable 9.3 million viewers on TSN and RDS late in the third period as Russia completed the biggest comeback in World Junior championship history to beat Canada 5-3 and win the gold medal in Buffalo, NY.
“While last night’s finish was heartbreaking, it is absolutely wonderful to see the country embrace these young men as they work so hard to bring the gold medal home to Canada,” said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. “Hockey Canada has made the World Juniors an important part of the Canadian landscape and each year all of us at TSN are very proud to play a role in bringing the drama, excitement and emotion to so many people.”
“It was a difficult loss but we are thrilled that so many Canadians watched and cheered on Team Canada last night,” says Bob Nicholson, President of Hockey Canada. “We are also extremely proud of our longstanding partnership with TSN – a partnership that has grown the game of hockey across the country.”
TSN’s pre- and post-game programming also had impressive audiences with the Post-Game Show attracting an average of 3.56 million viewers and the Pre-Game Show registering an average of 1.9 million viewers.
The gold medal game capped off what has been the most successful IIHF World Junior Championship ever for TSN. The average audience for the seven games featuring Team Canada was a remarkable 3.2 million viewers (includes preliminary round games, quarter-final and semifinal match-ups and the gold medal final).
TSN has been televising the IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP since 1991. Eight of the top 10 programs of all time on TSN have been IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP broadcasts with nine of those games registering audiences of more than 3 million viewers.
Online, TSN.ca scored with its World Juniors coverage registering 236,000 live streams for the gold medal game – a record for event streaming for Canada’s leading sports website according to data from Omniture. World Juniors content registered 865,000 video views throughout the tournament, more than doubling last year’s total. TSN.ca also registered more than 82 million page views between December 26 and January 5 – more than doubling the total from same period last year for the 2010 tournament.
TSN’s holiday hockey tradition returns Boxing Day December 26, 2011, as Team Canada looks for redemption at the 2012 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP in Edmonton and Calgary.
Top Five Audiences on TSN
* 6.23 Million – 2011 World Juniors Gold Medal Game (Canada. vs. Russia)
* 5.4 Million – 2010 World Juniors Gold Medal Game (Canada. vs. USA)
* 5.1 Million – 2009 Grey Cup (Montreal vs. Saskatchewan)
* 5 Million – 2010 Grey Cup (Montreal vs. Saskatchewan)
* 4.06 Million – 2011 World Juniors Semifinals (Canada vs. USA)
*Audiences prior to August 31, 2009 based on BBM Nielsen Media Research Mark II meters
