CFL Audiences Up 11% After First Four Weeks of Season Ratings / TSN Posted by RAD on Jul 23, 2008 - 10:41 AM In TSN's first year of televising every CFL game, audiences are up 11% after the first four weeks (16 games), compared to last season, in which games aired on both TSN and CBC. This year's season-to-date average audience for CFL games is 362,000 viewers, compared to 326,000 last year after the first four weeks. This marks the strongest start ever for the CFL after the first 16 games of the season. "TSN takes great pride in being the CFL's exclusive rights-holder for the next five years. We have been pulling out all the stops to give the CFL the promotion, exposure and prominence it so richly deserves. The CFL on TSN has never been bigger or better than it is today," said Phil King, President, TSN. "The momentum is building towards the Grey Cup, which TSN will proudly produce and televise on November 23, marking the first time TSN will present this prestigious event." This past weekend (Week 4) produced massive CFL audiences, averaging 414,000 viewers over the four games. The most-watched game this season was July 10 featuring Toronto @ Edmonton, with a national average audience of 475,000 viewers. TSN's all-encompassing marketing and promotions campaign is in overdrive this season with weekly print, radio and online advertising, promos airing in heavy rotation on TSN and all CTV stations across the country, in-depth CFL coverage on SportsCentre, Off The Record, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge and TSN.ca, and a publicity campaign promoting TSN's award-winning CFL broadcast team, including 'rookie' Duane Forde, who has received tremendous support from fans and viewers in his first season as a game analyst. The CFL on TSN broadcasts continue to grow in popularity. TSN enjoyed six consecutive years of double-digit growth for CFL audiences (1997 to 2002), while the average audience over the past three seasons (2005-2007) is nearly double TSN's average audience throughout the 1990s (363,000 viewers vs. 189,000). TSN has been televising CFL games since 1986. All audience figures courtesy of BBM Nielsen Media Research and exclude pre- and post-game. This article is from CHANNEL CANADA   http://www.channelcanada.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.channelcanada.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2324