In the rings: CUME Days 14, 15, 16

The numbers aren't in for last night's big game yet, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday saw high ratings continue as the Games drew to a close.

By Katie Bailey
March 1, 2010

Day 14

The audience ratings for the gold-medal women’s hockey game on Thursday night weren’t quite as high as the men’s games – until the medals were presented, that is. An average of 5.8 million people tuned into the game across six Consortium channels, a number that peaked at 10.3 million viewers in the third period. The average number of viewers rose even higher for the medal presentation after the game, for an average audience of 11.3 million viewers.

The overall ratings winner of the day was men’s freestyle skiing, in which three Canadians had a shot at the podium. That event averaged 7.8 million viewers across three channels (CTV, Sportsnet, RDS). It was also a big night for Olympic prime time overall, as the average audience rose to above seven million across channels for the first time. Online, total unique visitors to the bilingual Consortium sites surpassed 10.6 million visitors overall, and page views from mobile phones and devices reached 5.7 million.

The top five most-watched events on TV of the day were:

1. Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials: 7.8 million (CTV, Sportsnet, RDS)
2. Women’s hockey (CAN/USA): 5.8 million (CTV, V/CPAC, OMNI.2, OMNI AB, OMNI BC, APTN)
3. Figure skating, ladies’ free skate: 4.4 million (CTV, V/CPAC, TSN, RDS, OMNI.1, OMNI.2, OMNI AB, OMNI BC)
4. Women’s curling (CAN/SUI): 2 million (CTV, V/CPAC, APTN)
5. Men’s curling (CAN/SWE): 1.8 million (Sportsnet, RDS)

Day 15

Although men’s hockey unsurprisingly dominated the night’s ratings – peaking at over 12 million in that white-knuckle last minute of the Canada-Slovakia game – women’s curling did quite well against it, earning an average audience of 6.8 million across four channels. The men’s hockey game averaged 9.7 viewers overall (8.4 million on CTV), across seven Consortium channels. The rest of the ratings belonged largely to speed skating, which brought in a total of eight million viewers over three events on Sportsnet and RDS. Olympic prime time continued to climb with an average audience of 7.7 million.

The top five most-watched events on TV of the day were:

1. Men’s hockey: CAN/SVK: 9.7 million (CTV, V/CPAC, OMNI.1, OMNI.2, OMNI AB, OMNI BC, APTN)
2. Women’s curling (CAN/SWE): 6.8 million (CTV, V/CPAC, TSN, RDS)
3. Short track speed skating, men’s 500m finals: 3 million (Sportsnet, RDS)
4. Short track speed skating, ladies’ 1000m quarter-finals: 2.54 million (Sportsnet, RDS)
5. Short track speed skating, men’s 5000m relay finals: 2.46 million (Sportsnet, RDS)Day 16

Day 16

You can’t help but love Kevin Martin, the down-home leader of Canada’s men’s curling team who helped bring in an average audience of 6.9 million viewers across the three channels showing the final showdown between Canada and crazy-pants Norway. Men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding also did well on Saturday, bringing in an average audience of 2.8 million viewers for Jasey Jay Anderson’s triumphant gold medal win. Olympic prime time didn’t quite live up to the previous two days’ numbers but did a respectable six million on average across Consortium channels for the evening.

1. Men’s curling (CAN/NOR): 6.9 million (CTV, RDS, APTN)
2. Snowboard: men’s PGS medal round: 2.8 million (CTV, V/CPAC, RDS)
3. Speed skating: men’s team pursuit finals: 2.4 million (CTV, Sportsnet, RDS)
4. Men’s slalom, 1st run: 2.3 million (CTV, V/CPAC)
5. Men’s hockey (FIN/SVK): 2 million (CTV, V/CPAC, TSN)