Let the head scratching begin. The Border drew 497,000 for it’s third season premiere Thursday night, according to BBM Canada overnight estimates. It was a great episode and was well promoted. Why the drop from last year’s average? Why no PPM bump?
Ratings are up 23% for broadcasters so far this fall according to BBM Canada officials who are finding more viewers thanks to those Portable People Meters. The Border appears to be one of those shows that is either not watched by more than one family member or not watched on out-of-home screens–or it just got run over by CTV’s big budget Thursday night crime dramas (see below).
It could, however, be the type of show people PVR and watch later. Total viewing numbers, available 10 days after the overnights, have been giving certain shows a bigger boost than they used to get with the old people meters.
The Border also got no boost from a less than compatible lead-in: the Doc Zone entry First Flight, which drew just 297,000 at 8 p.m. That fell a ton from Jeopardy! at 7:30 (940,000, although just 249,000 in 25-54). The National did a bit better than it has the past few weeks, up to 717,000 at 10. George’s The Hour found 101,000 PPMs not already docked.
CTV had a monster night: The Vampire Diaries at 7 (884,000), CSI at 8 (2,490,000), Border swamper Grey’s Anatomy at 9 (2,911,000 commercial), The Mentalist at 10 (2,511,000) and Lloyd at 11 (1,280,000).
Global opened huge with Survivor Samoa (2,714,000) followed by a hilarious hour-long wedding episode of The Office (967,000) leading into south of Brampton teen soap 9021-No (350,000).
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5 Comments
The most competitive night on TV +
weak to no promotion +
an NFB leftover for a lead in +
baseball play offs +
move to a different night
= 497000 … not bad, all things considered
Yeah, forgot about those baseball playoffs. And it is a killer night–but aren’t they all now? Where would you move it–Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? It is killer competitive every night. Disagree on the promotion, too–I saw plenty of promos on CBC leading up to the premiere.
Flashpoint has proven you can draw a big crowd in Canada for a crime drama on a Friday night–maybe CBC could test it there in a second window following the 8 p.m. comedies.
There’s a number of options … Friday is good … Wed after Dragons Den or just leave it on Mondays but pleassssse no more Doc Zone lead in on Thursday … hang the Tudors out to dry Thursday.
and oh yeah … how about Sunday at 9 … lol
The Border was up against Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, The Office wedding episode, and Fringe. Everyone I know who watched the show during the first 2 seasons, when I told them it was coming back on Thursday nights, couldn’t believe how stupid CBC would be to do that.
As someone who watches all 4 of the shows it was up against, I was super disappointed with the time slot. Even with a dual PVR and timeshifting, I had to move one show to online viewing.
Put it on Monday @ 9pm ET, or even Sunday @ 9 after “Battle of the Blades” — but making viewers choose between hugely-hyped (and consistently-performing) American shows and a Canadian show they may enjoy, and they’ll stick with what they’ve given years and years to.
CBC better not cancel the show if it keeps it in this time slot all season and it holds to around 500,000 each episode.