Audiences up 16% for Team Canada games compared to the last tournament held in Europe.
Canada continued its love affair with the World Juniors this holiday season, as the tournament attracted 15.3 million unique viewers to TSN and RDS according to preliminary overnight data from Numeris. Audiences were up 16% for Team Canada games compared to the last tournament held in Europe (the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden).
The World Juniors earned big audiences all tournament long, with yesterday’s thrilling Gold Medal Game – that saw Finland capture the championship on home ice with a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over Russia – attracting an average audience of 729,000 viewers to TSN (637,000) and RDS (92,000), making it the most-watched non-Canadian game of the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Overall, more than 2.7 million unique Canadian viewers watched yesterday’s World Juniors championship game on TSN and RDS.
2016 World Juniors Ratings Highlights
Team Canada’s five World Juniors games attracted an average audience of 2.1 million viewers:
- Canada-Finland (Quarter-Final) – 2.55 million
- Canada-USA (Preliminary Round) – 2.88 million
- Canada-Sweden (Preliminary Round) – 1.72 million
- Canada-Switzerland (Preliminary Round) – 1.71 million
- Canada-Denmark (Preliminary Round) – 1.46 million
- 40% of Canadians aged 2-17 watched the World Juniors
On Boxing Day, an average audience of 2.9 million Canadians watched Team Canada’s opening game against USA, making it 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.
Team Canada’s quarter-final loss to Finland on Saturday was the most-watched quarter-final game ever held outside North America, attracting an average audience of 2.55 million viewers on TSN (2.23 million) and RDS (316,000).
TSN was the #1 network in Canada on December 26 (ahead of all conventional networks by a margin of at least 51%), on December 29, and January 2 (up 72% compared to the #2-ranked network).