What old people watched in Canada the week of April 11-17

While the Top-30 most-watched TV shows in English Canada had a familiar look to it April 11-17, there are a few trends to note. For example:

Numeris’ weekly estimate of Canadian viewers ages two-plus tends to skew closer to 72-plus. For one thing, there are more Canadians ages 70 and up than there are Canadians ages 17 down. Also, older viewers tend to cling to hour-long imported procedurals on traditional broadcasters. That’s why we see, week after week, The Good Doctor or 9-1-1 or FBI topping these lists in total viewers. There are a lot of older broadcast viewers in Canada who want to believe in a good doctor.

Had we access to Numeris’ weekly 18-49- or 25-54- charts, sporting events such as Blue Jays or NHL or now even NBA Raptors games, as well as Saturday Night Live, would likely be in the Top-10 most-watched each week.

Looking just at Toronto-Hamilton for April 11-17, a Leafs game on Sportsnet Ont., was No. 1 for the week while the Raptors first playoff game on TSN was third overall and an average of two weekday Leaf games on TSN came in fourth. A Blue Jays baseball game on Sportsnet Ont. ranked 10th for the week.

There is a subtle shift happening, however, this season on the national chart. Six of the Top-10 and 14 of the April 11-17 Top-30 were Global offerings, with CTV well back with three out of 10 and seven out of 30. It can still, occasionally, swing the other way for CTV but the gap in totals viewership between the two Canadian broadcast rivals does appear to be narrowing.

Here are the April 11-17 Top 10 (English Canada; ages 2+) according to Numeris average-minute audience data:

1. The Good Doctor (CTV) Mon 1,810,000
2. Survivor (Global) Wed 1,689,000
3. 9-1-1 (Global) Mon 1,536,000
4. 9-1-1: Lone Star (CTV) Mon 1,456,000
5. FBI (Global) Tues 1,385,000
6. CTV Evening News (CTV) MTWTF 1,357,000
7. FBI: International (Global) Tues 1,221,000
8. Chicago Fire (Citytv) Weed 1,152,000
9. The Equalizer (Global) Sun 1,146,000
10. The Thing About Pam (Global) Tues 1,117,000

Transplant had aired its season finale the week before, so there were no Canadian originals among the English Top-30 nationally. Both CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries (No. 18) and Citytv’s Hudson & Rex (No. 25) charted in Toronto-Hamilton.

Saturday Night Live, hosted April 16 by musical guest Lizzo, was in 15th spot for the week across English Canada with 938,000 Global viewers. It ranked ninth in Toronto-Hamilton.

The top sports broadcast on the English Top-30 list was Hockey Night in Canada‘s early prime game, pulling 961,000 Sportsnet National viewers. The Blue Jays averaged 850,000 over seven games on Sportsnet Ont., good for 29th spot. A Sunday night Leafs gamee on Sportsnet Ont. drew 841,000 in 30th.

All three Big Brother Canada episodes cracked the English Top-30, in 22nd (Mon., 920,000), 24th (Thurs, 881,000) and 25th place (Wed.; 880,000).

Mattea Roach, the Canadian woman who has won 15 games-in-a-row on Jeopardy!, is boosting ratings. The long-running quiz show ranked 23rd on the English Canada national chart with a five-night average of 901,000 indieNet+ viewers.

The Curse of Oak Island did not registeer nationally but it reached 26th spot in Vancouver-Victoria on History. The Citytv series Canada’s Got Talent also failed to make the national cut but was 20th in Vancouver-Victoria, 28th in Edmonton and 29th in Toronto-Hamilton.