Sunday’s hockey game at the Vancouver Olympics which saw the US triumph over Canada 5-3 was certainly a disappointment to Canadian viewers. But it was the most-watched sports program in Canadian TV history.
Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium reported an average audience of 10.6 million viewers. With a larger audience than the Salt Lake City 2002 gold medal game featuring the same two teams (10.3 million), Sunday night’s game now becomes the most-watched sports program on record in Canadian television history.
Peaking at 13 million viewers, the game was watched in part by nearly two in three Canadians, or 21.5 million viewers (64.3% of the Canadian population). A total of 9.48 million viewers watched on CTV alone, the biggest audience yet for any event at Vancouver 2010, including the Opening Ceremony (8.95 million), while 1.08 million watched on V. The game contributed to the highest daily reach yet, with 28 million Canadians watching some Winter Games coverage yesterday on Consortium platforms.
“It’s a remarkable number, considering two million more viewers watched in Canada than the US,” said Keith Pelley, President of the Consortium.
And it’s not just hockey that Canadians are watching. After Day 10, the Consortium reported that 97.6% of the population – or 32.69 million Canadians – have engaged with Vancouver 2010 coverage, according to Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium’s CUME index.
