With Habs Splitting National Audience, HNIC Hits Over 2 Million Again
November 24, 2009 1 Comment
From William Houston:
Hockey Night in Canada drew its second largest audience of the season, 2.101 million, for the 7 p.m. ET telecast.
Worth noting is the Toronto Maple Leafs, for the first time this season, were not the featured national game.
It was a split telecast, with Washington Capitals-Leafs seen in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, and the rest of the country receiving the Detroit Red Wings-Montreal Canadiens game — except Ottawa, which saw the Buffalo Sabres-Senators game.
It makes sense to give match-ups not involving the Leafs more exposure, given the Toronto team is last in the NHL standing.
Sherali Najak, Hockey Night’s executive producer, says the strong viewership is attributable in large part to the Leafs and Canadiens games both going to a shootout.
Game 2 of the doubleheader, Chicago Blackhawks-Edmonton Oilers, was watched by 725,000. The pre-game show continues to draw very well, 657,000 viewers.
Hockey Night’s Season-to-Date ratings are after the jump. The original post is updated as well.
Thursday, Oct. 1
7:00 Montreal vs. Toronto 2.542 Million
10:00 Vancouver vs. Calgary 1.371 Million
Average: 1,956,500 Viewers
Saturday, Oct. 3
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 628,000
7:00 TOR vs. WSH OR MTL vs. BUF OR OTT vs. NYR 1.74 Million
10:00 Calgary vs. Edmonton 1.153 Million
Game Average: 1,446,500 Viewers
Saturday, Oct. 10
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 447,000
7:00 Pittsburgh vs. Toronto 1.686 Million
10:00 Montreal vs. Edmonton 1.004 Million
Game Average: 1,345,000 Viewers
Saturday, Oct. 17
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game N/A
7:00 NYR vs. TOR OR OTT vs. MTL 1.718 Million
10:00 Minnesota vs. Vancouver 986,000
Game Average: 1,352,000 Viewers
Saturday, Oct. 24
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 507,000 Viewers
7:00 TOR vs. VAN OR BOS vs. OTT OR NYR vs. MTL 2.306 Million
10:00 Edmonton vs. Calgary 1.119 Million
Game Average: 1,712,500 Viewers
Saturday, Oct. 31
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 781,000 Viewers
7:00 Toronto vs. Montreal 2.453 Million
10:00 Detroit vs. Calgary 809,000 Viewers
12:30 After Hours 222,000 Viewers
Game Average: 1.631 Million
Saturday, Nov. 7
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 1.014 Million
7:00 DET vs. TOR OR NJ vs. OTT OR TB vs. MTL 1.964 Million
10:00 NY Rangers vs. Calgary 877,000 Viewers
Game Average: 1,420,500 Viewers
Saturday, Nov. 14
2:00 NYR vs. OTT 579,000 Viewers
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 632,000 viewers
7:00 Calgary vs. Toronto 1.808 Million
10:00 Vancouver vs. Colorado 876,000 Viewers
Game Average (Primetime): 1.342 Million
Saturday, Nov. 21
6:30 HNIC Pre-Game 657,000 viewers
7:00 DET vs. MTL OR WSH vs. TOR OR BUF vs. OTT 2.101 Million
10:00 Chicago vs. Edmonton 725,000 viewers
Game Average: 1.413 Million
Through 7 Weeks and 8 telecasts:
7PM Game Average: 2,289,750 Viewers
10PM Game Average: 1,115,000 Viewers
HNIC Season-to-Date Average: 1,702,375 Viewers
Puck The Media 
Just to let everyone know, this Saturday night, the Habs are the featured national game. Also, Friday, December 4th, is the exact 100th anniversary when the Habs were created, and CBC is showing Boston at Montreal at 8pm ET, but they have an hour and a half of pregame coverage starting at 6:30pm ET. I can only hope they let Dick Irvin call atleast a play of the game for this very special game.