Hockey drew NFL-like ratings on NBC Sunday.
The Canada/USA Olympic Men's Hockey Gold Medal game drew a 17.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, up 46% from the '02 Gold Medal game, which featured the same two teams.
Overnight ratings for the 2006 Gold Medal game were unavailable.
Sunday's game is on pace to finish as the highest rated hockey telecast in the United States since 1980.
To put the numbers in perspective, Sunday's game drew a higher overnight rating than every World Series game since 2004 (including every game of Yankees/Phillies last year), every NBA Finals telecast since 1998, and every NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four game since at least '98.
Excluding the NFL, the 17.6 overnight for the game is the second-highest of the year for any sporting event, behind only the Texas/Alabama BCS National Championship Game in January (18.2).
The Canada/USA Olympic Men's Hockey Gold Medal game drew a 17.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, up 46% from the '02 Gold Medal game, which featured the same two teams.
Overnight ratings for the 2006 Gold Medal game were unavailable.
Sunday's game is on pace to finish as the highest rated hockey telecast in the United States since 1980.
To put the numbers in perspective, Sunday's game drew a higher overnight rating than every World Series game since 2004 (including every game of Yankees/Phillies last year), every NBA Finals telecast since 1998, and every NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four game since at least '98.
Excluding the NFL, the 17.6 overnight for the game is the second-highest of the year for any sporting event, behind only the Texas/Alabama BCS National Championship Game in January (18.2).
The Olympic hockey gold medal thriller on Sunday pulled in a record television audience in Canada.
A total of 16.6 million viewers watched Canada’s 3-2 overtime win against the United States, the largest viewership ever for a telecast on Canadian television.
That audience figure represents the combined total of viewers on nine channels, including the main CTV network, where the majority watched the game. Included among the nine channels were the affiliated French Olympic outlets as well as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the Rogers Omni ethnic channels.
It’s an impressive audience, but not a surprise given the hockey rivalry between Canada and the United States, and the quality of the game. Canada took a 2-0 lead, but the Americans narrowed it to 2-1 and then scored in the final seconds of regulation time to sent it into overtime where Sidney Crosby got the winner .
CTV reports that 80 per cent of Canadians (26.5 million) watched some part of the game.
44.2 million people in North America watched the game, on average.A total of 16.6 million viewers watched Canada’s 3-2 overtime win against the United States, the largest viewership ever for a telecast on Canadian television.
That audience figure represents the combined total of viewers on nine channels, including the main CTV network, where the majority watched the game. Included among the nine channels were the affiliated French Olympic outlets as well as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the Rogers Omni ethnic channels.
It’s an impressive audience, but not a surprise given the hockey rivalry between Canada and the United States, and the quality of the game. Canada took a 2-0 lead, but the Americans narrowed it to 2-1 and then scored in the final seconds of regulation time to sent it into overtime where Sidney Crosby got the winner .
CTV reports that 80 per cent of Canadians (26.5 million) watched some part of the game.
