CFL ratings report: Riders deliver a Thanksgiving ratings boost

The CFL and broadcast partner TSN “gobbled up” a nice ratings bump over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The four games drew an average audience of just over 538,000 on TSN, helped in large part by a healthy serving of Rider pride: the Saskatchewan Roughriders victory over the Edmonton Eskimos was watched by almost three-quarters of a million people on Monday. That’s the sixth-highest rating of the season (the other five are also Rider games.)

Overall, viewership was up almost 7.5 per cent over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2017, when the schedule featured just one Monday contest, a Montreal-Edmonton tilt that produced the lowest number of the four games.

A happy Thanksgiving means that ratings are now up 5.9 per cent over the same time last year and a competitive West Division could provide a strong finish to the regular season.

Week 17 ratings

Friday
Winnipeg at Ottawa: 514,000

Saturday
Toronto at B.C.: 388,600

Monday
Calgary at Montreal: 503,500
Edmonton at Saskatchewan: 749,300

Week 17 (2018) vs. Week 16 (2018): -7.4 per cent
Year-to-date (65 games) vs 2017 (65 games): +5.9 per cent