All things must pass, and so we are into the new reality on Saturday night’s in Canada. After 74 years, a tradition dating back to 1952, there are no more “free” Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts. Rogers no longer shares their primetime weekend showcase with the public broadcaster. Viewers instead can subscribe to Sportsnet to watch the games. How did this all play out, ratings-wise, this past Saturday, Oct, 3, in Canada?
Well, pretty much as you might expect.
There was no Toronto Maple Leafs game Saturday, which typically would have brought more eyeballs in from Ontario. Instead, Sportsnet national drew an overnight, estimated 1,450,000 viewers ages 2+ for a 7:15 p.m. ET start between the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The late game, a tilt between Western NHL rivals Calgary and Vancouver, drew an estimated average minute audience of 634,000.
Across the CBC network that same Saturday night, there was a much more muted response to a Canadian Super 60 Cricket tournament.
This drew, well, crickets.
The Men’s game at 7 p.m. ET drew an overnight, estimated audience of 27,000 viewers. The Women’s game at 9:30 p.m. registered as an estimated 19,000. Keep in mind, at least CBC can seek some ad revenue for these broadcasts, something they were shut out from for over a decade in the shared broadcast arrangement with NHL rights holder Rogers. It won’t always be cricket as the draw Saturdays on CBC, which will eventually have access to non NHL hockey tournaments as well as other sports — giving them an opportunity to brand those nights with a show title they still own — Hockey Night in Canada.
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Over on CTV and Global, another Saturday night showdown was playing out. For the past two weekends, CTV has been the new home in Canada to Saturday Night Live. The NBC sketch comedy showcase has been a tentpole franchise on Global for all of its previous 51 seasons. As the Corus Entertainment fortunes deteriorated over the past years, however, Bell Media swooped in like a raven on a roadkill and picked off the Canadian rights to SNL.
Naturally, there has been some adjustment for viewers in migrating to the Canadian signal holder. Another factor: unexpected college football overruns. Some Canadian viewers did not catch up with the series for 16 minutes past its 11:30 pm start in Week One; last Saturday, Oct. 3, there was apparently an 11 minutes delay greeting viewers who had PVR’d the franchise.
On top of that, the 52nd season opener was less than stellar, with the host, NBA star Jalen Brunson, game but not exactly a big comedy draw.
Still, it is not like he was a cricket player. The Sept. 27 season premiere drew an overnight, estimated 2+ audience of 565,000 accross 26 Bell stations despite the 23:45 estimated start. Of that total, a robust 219,000 were in the 18-49 demo.
Last Saturday, Oct. 3, with Dakota Johnson returning for her third time as host, SNL slid slightly to an estimated 536,000 in its second CTV outing, with 210,000 in the younger demo.
One year earlier, Global welcomed the 51st season opener featuring Bad Bunny as host. That drew an estimated 590,000 in 2+ overnights, with 176,000 being counted as in the 18-49 demo. Thast same night a year ago, CTV was getting by with reruns of Corner Gas (64,000 on some stations in overnights) and The Big Bang Theory (134,000 2+).
On Oct. 10, comedian Shane Gillis will be hosting the next episode of Saturday Night Live, with Rosalia booked as the musical guest.
