World Juniors thriller delivers all-time audience record

TSN.ca Staff

1/6/2010 6:18:24 PM

It was an epic game with an epic audience to match. Tuesday night's thrilling IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game made television history for TSN.

Preliminary overnight data from BBM Canada confirms that TSN's average audience for the game was an outstanding 5.3 million viewers - an all-time record for the network and the largest audience recorded on Canadian television since 2005*. It is the sixth largest audience for any broadcast on Canadian television in records that date back to 1994.

An astounding 12.3 million viewers - or more than one in three Canadians - tuned in to some of or the entire broadcast.

Note - See Below for TSN's Top Five Most-Watched Audiences

Audience levels peaked at 7.5 million viewers in the final minutes of the third period as tournament MVP Jordan Eberle scored for Team Canada and sent the dramatic game into overtime.

''TSN has covered some of the biggest sporting events in the world over the past 25 years, but this one will go down as one of the most exciting and emotional games we have ever broadcast,'' says Phil King, President of TSN. ''It is a tribute to Hockey Canada that this tournament has grown to where it is today - capturing the attention of the nation every year. We are absolutely thrilled so many Canadians joined us for the game and can't wait to do it again next year in Buffalo.''

''It is wonderful 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 worked so well for both organizations and has grown the game of hockey across the country.''

TSN's support programming also had impressive audiences with the Post-Game Show attracting an average of 3 million viewers and the Pre-Game Show registering an average of 1.3 million viewers.

The gold medal game caps off what will go down as the most successful IIHF World Junior Championship ever for TSN. The average audience for the six games featuring Team Canada was a remarkable 3.1 million viewers (includes four preliminary round games, one semifinal game and the gold medal final).

TSN also saw impressive audiences for its broadcast of non-Team Canada games. The Russia-Switzerland Quarterfinal game had an average audience of more than one-million viewers and the United States-Sweden semifinal game set a new standard for digital television with an audience of 902,000 for its broadcast on TSN2.

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 seven of those games registering audiences of more than 3 million viewers.

Online, TSN.ca scored with its World Juniors coverage registering 145,000 live streams for the gold medal game - a record for primetime online streaming. Throughout the tournament, World Juniors on-demand content registered 1.4 million video views.  TSN.ca also registered 6.9 million page views between Dec. 26 and Jan 5 - a 47 percent increase compared to the 2009 tournament.**

TSN's holiday hockey tradition returns Dec. 26, 2010,  as Team Canada looks for redemption at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo.

Top Five Audiences on TSN

5.3 Million -  2010 World Juniors Gold Medal Game (Canada vs. USA)
5.1 Million - 2009 Grey Cup (Montreal Vs Saskatchewan) 
3.7 Million - 2009 World Juniors Gold Medal Game (Canada vs. Sweden) 
3.5 Million - 2003 World Juniors Gold Medal Game (Canada vs. Russia) 
3.3 Million - 2010 World Juniors Canada-USA (Preliminary Round - New Year's Eve)
 
*Audiences prior to August 31, 2009 based on BBM Nielsen Media Research Mark II meters
** Omniture