Thanksgiving Audiences: Baseball Takes the Turkey

By: Dominic Jones

The age old tradition on Thanksgiving is to argue with your relatives about politics, stuff yourself with Turkey, and then sit down on the couch and watch football.  This year, there was a slight variation on that.  It definitely wasn't the politics (if anything, that was more intense most places given that there's an election coming up) and certainly wasn't the Turkey either.  No, it was the football.  With the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs for the first time in 22 years (aka, the first time in my lifetime), all eyes were not on football, but rather on baseball!

According the Yahoo! Canada's "Great Canadian Ratings Report," it is clear that Baseball dominated the airwaves (or cable ways) in Canada this thanksgiving weekend.  Via Yahoo!, here are the top ten highest rated Sporting programs in Canada for the Thanksgiving weekend,

1. MLB, Blue Jays at Rangers, Monday, Sportsnet: 4,380,000

2. MLB, Blue Jays at Rangers, Sunday, Sportsnet: 4,170,000

3. MLB, Rangers at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 2,400,000

4. NHL, Habs-Bruins/Leafs-Sens/Oilers-Preds, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 2,100,000

5. NFL, Cowboys-Pats/Cards-Lions, Sunday, CTV-TSN: 970,000

6. NHL, Flames at Canucks, Saturday, CBC: 961,000

7. NFL, Bills-Titans/Seahawks-Bengals/Rams-Packers/Bears-Chiefs, Sunday, CTV: 813,000

8. NHL, Maple Leafs at Red Wings, Friday, Sportsnet One: 587,000

9. CFL, Eskimos at Stampeders, Saturday, TSN: 545,000

10. CFL, Roughriders at Ticats, Friday, TSN: 463,000

As you can see, Baseball dominated the top three spots, with the numbers increasing as each game went up.  The NFL didn't make the list until #5, still sitting behind both Baseball and Hockey.  And the CFL didn't make the list until #9.  

While I'm sure this may have been a shock for some advertisers this year, I doubt this trend will continue.  Next year, I expect Football will be back near the top of the list.  This is likely an anomaly, because usually there isn't Baseball relevant to casual fans in Canada in October.  This was the first Blue Jays playoff appearance in over twenty years, and odds are they won't be back next year.  The Baseball playoffs are notoriously hard to get into (far fewer teams qualify than in the NBA or NHL where over half the league qualifies) and the Jays would have to repeat this year's success.  Not to say that that's impossible, lots of the Jays key players will remain with the club through the 2016 season but others (like star pitcher David Price) are apt to leave and the Jays will have to replace their production.

In other words, the advertisers who may have been a little caught off guard by the Blue Jays success shouldn't feel too bad about this.  The tradition may have slipped this year, but unless the Blue Jays can repeat their success, I would expect the NFL to be back at (or near) the top of the list next year.  And if the Jays do make the playoffs, they have these numbers to turn to when making decisions.