The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 30

il CIO SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016 OTTAWA CITIZEN i it I fi if 1 -Lv Last Sunday's dramatic National Football League game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys in a late-afternoon time slot drew a bigger audience than one of the two Canadian Football League playoff games that day, outdoing the CFL Eastern semifinal playoff game 981,000 to 903,000 viewers, feed vuichthe associated press NFL TV RATINGS ON DECLINE ik a a a is ANA A UML.IUVJ I KJKJ LI 111 Wll ILJ Driven by young adults, league's popularity never higher up here i Sunday night ratings are up 11 per cent in this Canadian demo. Compare the latter to an overall drop south of the border of 14 per cent for Sunday Night Football, and an overall drop of 15 per cent, which includes a 16 per cent drop in the American 18-49 demo. These ratings jumps among young Canadian adults seem to confirm a growing anecdotal sense that the NFL's popularity in Canada increases with each generation. LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN FURTHER PERSPECTIVE Last weekend's Sunday late-afternoon NFL game, Dallas-Pittsburgh, outdrew even the CFL Eastern semifinal playoff game 981,000 to 903,000. The Western semi drew 1.06 million.

Previously this season, Sunday NFL games regularly thumped late-season Sunday CFL games. That is, from early September through early November, according to weekly Numeris numbers posted by Yahoo! Sports Canada. For instance on Oct. 22-23 weekend, three early Hockey Night in Canada games (Toronto-Chicago, Montreal-Boston and Ottawa-Tampa Bay) collectively topped all weekend sports programming in Canada, with 1.91 million viewers. The late-afternoon NFL games that weekend (Pittsburgh-New England and Atlanta-San Diego) together drew 963,000 making it the second-most watched sports program in the nation that weekend, ahead of both the late HNIC game (Vancouver-L.

887,000) and the Sunday NHL game (Edmonton-Winnipeg: The fifth-most watched sports program that weekend was the early-afternoon Sunday NFL telecast (Buffalo-Miami, Minnesota-Philadelphia, Baltimore-New York Jets: Rounding out the Oct 22-23 weekend Top 10: the Heritage Classic old-timers hockey game an NLCS game between the Chicago Cubs and LA. Dodgers the early Friday night CFL game (Hamilton-Ottawa: 617)00), the late NFL television ratings south of the border have plummeted this season. Across the board, too. In every time slot, and in both bellwether demographics: overall and the advertiser-vital 18-49 age bracket. Why? Many point to Americans' understandable preoccupation with the divisive U.S.

presidential election, in which Republican Donald Trump surprisingly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8. Because of all the rancour, nervousness pervaded the electorate. That proved, as Trump might say, a tremendous, tremendous distraction from everyday American life. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other one-sided news providers became must-watch TV.

The NFL cites the election as a principle reason for the ratings drops. But as yet, no one knows for sure. Any number of other reasons have been cited. Everything from unexciting games to low-scoring games to a dearth of recognizable stars to underperforming superstars (hello, Aaron Rodgers) to too many commercials to games devolving into unwatchable flag-fests because of over-officiating and to what's viewed in some quarters as the un-American pre-game anthem protests started by Colin Kaepernick. Whatever the reasons, according to numbers posted in a story this week at Forbes, com, NFL ratings are down seven per cent for Sunday afternoon games year-over-year; down 15 per cent on Sunday nights; down 18 percent on Monday nights; down 13 16 per cent on Thursday nights; down 10 per cent for the three Sunday morning games televised live from London, England; down eight per cent for games televised nationally; and down seven per cent for both FOX and CBS regional telecasts.

The good news, however, is that last Sunday night's game, which saw Seattle defeat New England 31-24, drew the largest NFL TV audience south of the border since Week 1. Friday night CFL game (Toronto-Calgary: 530,000) and the Saturday CFL game Should this year's average of 893,000 viewers for late-afternoon Sunday NFL games continue, it would constitute a rise of 14 per cent since 2014, when the average audience was 784,000. MONDAY NIGHTS OUTDRAW UNDAY NIGHTS Canadians have markedly different prime-time NFL tastes from Americans. Monday Night Football hasn't been the NFL ratings darlingin the States since Sunday Night Football was added in 2006. But in Canada through Week 10 this season, MNF has averaged 447,000 viewers, up 12 per cent.

Compare that to 360,000 for SNF 19 per cent fewer. In the U.S. ifs the opposite, and it isn't even close. NBC's Sunday telecasts again last year proved to be the most popular show on American television, averaging nearly 23 million viewers nearly double that for Monday Night Football, which airs on ESPN. EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON TIME SLOT Viewership for Sunday early-afternoon games through Week 10 averages 745,000 in Canada up 14 per cent.

Most weeks, CTV in this time slot delivers different games across the country to maximize local interest. This helps to boost the collective rating. For instance, Toronto usually gets the Buffalo Bills, Atlantic Canada the New England Patriots, Montreal the New York Giants, Winnipeg the Minnesota Vikings, and both Alberta and British Columbia the Seattle Seahawks. CONTINUES A TREND No one shouldbc too surprised by the NFL's viewing popularity in Canada compared to America Just look at ratings for the past two Super Bowls. The league's championship game following the 2014 season Super Bowl XLLX, in which New England edged Seattle was viewed by more people in Canada than in the United States on a per-capita basis.

About 55 per cent of all Canadians (19.3 million of 35.1 million) watched at least part of that game, either on English broadcaster CTV or French network RDS. By comparison, 51 per cent of all Americans (161.3 million of 316.1 million) watched the game on NBC, according to statistics released by the NFL. Similarly, 18 million Canadians watched at least part of last February's Super Bowl 50, in which Denver dropped Carolina That's 52 per cent of the country the same percentage as Americans (167 million) who watched at least part of that game. So for two years in a row now, at least as many Canadians as Americans watched the Super Bowl per capita. Other NFL playoff games likewise have drawn huge numbers of Canadian viewers over the past two Januarys.

In Jan ary 2015, 12 Hockey Night in Canada games (early and late combined) averaged 1.28 million viewers. Ten NFL playoff games averaged 1.45 million. Similarly, this past January, HNIC's doubleheader averaged 1.25 million viewers, whereas NFL playoff games averaged 1.50 million. Remember that controversial divisional playoff game two Januarys ago between Green Bay and Dallas, when the referee after replay review overturned a seemingly good catch by Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant? That game drew 1.6 million Canadian viewers and peaked at 2.3 million near game's end. That, for just a second-round playoff game.

Last January's AFC and NFC championship games drew monster numbers. Some 2.8 million Canadians watched Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos beat Tom Brady's New England Patriots in the AFC title game, a 30 per cent increase year-over-year. Viewer-ship peaked at 4.63 million. Extrapolate all this data, and imagine how much more popular the NFL would become in Canada when, some day down the road, a team in search of a more supportive, more populous locale inevitably decides to relocate up here probably to Toronto, probably next decade. That is, as long as they're allowed to pass through Donald Trump's Northern Wall.

JoKrykpostm edia. com Twitter: (aiJofmKryk '-I Toronto Hey, whose game is it anyway? While NFL TV ratings have plunged this season in America, Postmediahas learned they're up substantially in Canada especially among young adults. Season to date, average audience viewership numbers have risen eight per cent in Canada over last year on all networks. English-language NFL games in Canada except Thursday nightcrs on Sportsnet are shown on CTV, CTV Two or TSN. That trio's ratings are up not only six per cent over last year, but a whopping 26 per cent among adults aged 18-34.

Those aren't the only key take-aways from Numeris numbers obtained by Postmedia (which exclude Sportsnet telecasts). Others: OUTDRAWING EVERYTHING BUT EARLY HNIC The most-watched weekly NFL game in Canada late afternoon on Sundays usually draws more Canadian TV viewers each weekend than every other sports event, except for the early Hockey Night in Canada NHL game on Saturdays. This season, those late-afternoon Sunday games are averaging 893,000 Canadian viewers up seven per cent from last year overall, and up 23 per cent among adults 18-34. The latter is a trend, not a coincidence and might be the most impactful take-away from these ratings revelations. YOUNG CANADIANS Indeed, young Canadian adults may rank among the NFL's fastest growing sub-sect of fans anywhere.

Viewership in their demo for early Sunday afternoon games is up 22 per cent through Week 10, and up a staggering 46 per cent for Monday night games. Even.