CBC’s coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics fell short of the Top-10 podium in English Canada the week the Games began.
The public network’s primetime re-broadcast of the opening ceremonies on Friday, Feb. 4 drew an average minute audience of 970,000 total 2+ viewers according to Numeris for a 14th place finish.
The next highest and only other Olympic entry on the Top-30 was in 18th spot which was an average of CBC’s first five days of Games coverage. Numeris found 875,000 viewers tuned in Wednesday through Sunday. That total included two preliminary days of events prior to the opening ceremonies.
They were also days when Canada got off to a fast start, medal-wise, including an early gold. CBC’s Olympic coverage did best in Toronto-Hamilton, with five entries in the Top-30, including a fourth place overall for the opening ceremonies encore in prime.
Meanwhile, besides newscasts, the national Top-10 was once again dominated by imported US procedurals, with Global getting a 2022 boost from the return of its Tuesday night slate of Dick Wolf-produced FBI shows:
- FBI (Global) Tues 1,618,000
- 9-1-1: Lone Star (CTV) Mon 1,617,000
- CTV Evening News (CTV) MTWTF 1,602,000
- FBI: Most Wanted (Global) Tues 1,595,000
- FBI: International (Global) Tues 1,444,000
- CTV Evening News Weekend (CTV) Sat/Sun 1,343,000
- Hometown Hockey (Sportsnet National) Mon 1,262,000
- The Amazing Race (CTV) Wed 1,202,000
- The The Cleaning Lady (CTV) Mon 1,185,000
- CTV National News (CTV) MTWTFSS 1,105,000
In Canadian scripted originals results, CTV’s Transplant again stands tallest in 12th spot overall with 1,089,000 viewers. CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries — outdrawing all of the networks Olympic coverage — was watched by 979,000 in 13th spot. CBC’s St. John’s-based Tuesday night sitcom Son of a Critch made the top-30 four weeks out of five with 710,000 placing it in 29th spot. There was no new episode that week of Citytv’s top dog, Hudson & Rex.
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The NHL All-Star Skills competition hit target No. 15 on Sportsnet National the Friday opposite the Olympic re-brodcast with 957,000 viewers. Tops on specialty otherwise as usual was The Curse of Oak Island, in 17th spot with 885,000 viewers. At. No. 19 was the three day, WTF average for Global’s cheesy reality import Big Brother: Celebrity Edition, drawing 856,000.
Meanwhile, the police drama District 31 topped Numeris’s french language Top 30. The SRC series drew a four night average audience of 1,818,000 Quebec-only viewers — far ahead of the audience of any other show for the week in all of English Canada.
