Canadians More Tuned Into Their Leadership Debates Than Americans

From http://www.thestar.com/federalelection/article/511713

Canadian TV debate outdraws U.S. version
VOICES

October 04, 2008
STAR STAFF
More Canadians watched the leaders' election debate here Thursday night than watched the American vice-presidential candidates duke it out at the same time on television.

Preliminary ratings show the average television audience per minute was 3 million for the Canadian debate, compared to 1.65 million per minute who watched Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, said Jason MacDonald, vice-president of Veritas Communications, which organized the consortium of broadcasters that televised the debate here.

In comparison, 1 million is considered a large audience for a show like Flashpoint on CTV, or a regular Hockey Night in Canada game. Last year's Grey Cup drew 3.4 million, about the same as the Super Bowl.

Ratings for the Beijing Olympics averaged 1.3 million viewers in prime time on CBC.

Comparable figures to previous Canadian election debates were not immediately available.

The Star reported about 4 million viewers on average tuned to the debate between Brian Mulroney, John Turner and Ed Broadbent in 1988. Thursday's audience watching the Canadian debate peaked at nearly 4 million and at least 7.9 million watched all or part of the debate on English-language TV.

In Toronto, viewers watched the Canadian debate by a 3-1 margin over the U.S. debate. In Vancouver it was 4-1 and 3.5-1 in Calgary.

With Canadian and American networks airing debates at the same time, there were few alternatives to compete for viewers.

The figures are from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Global, CBC, CTV, Newsnet, Newsworld and CP24 for the Canadian debate, and 9 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. for the American debate on ABC, Fox, CNN, NBC and CBS.


Which debate did you watch Thursday night and why?

Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson: "I switched back and forth throughout both debates. I spent probably more time with the U.S. debate to see if (Governor Sarah) Palin would collapse or not – and tended to keep it on the U.S. debate when Palin was speaking because I wanted to see if she would get stumped on a basic policy question."


Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak (Niagara West-Glanbrook): "My thumb had quite a workout on the remote control last night flipping between debates. ... Harper clearly won the Canadian debate and, yes, I'm voting Conservative."

New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos (Welland): "I switched to the U.S. debate and within seconds it became so tedious and mindless. I have no interest in two right-wing politicians and their parties duking it out, so I switched back to the Canadian debate on Global and gave up 20 minutes into the second hour. I'd seen enough. ... The format was frustrating for those of us who like to see a more controversial and aggressive debate. For this I own a wide-screen, high-definition television?"

David Poborsa, a bank consultant in Toronto: "I watched (the U.S. vice-presidential debate) because who gets elected there is going to make a difference to our economy, too. I hope it's Obama as opposed to McCain. I don't think it's going to matter (to the economy) who wins here."

Danielle Dancyger, of Ernst & Young in Toronto: "I watched the Canadian one because it's more applicable to me but I wanted to catch bits of the other one for entertainment purposes. It was fun. I thought the set-up for the U.S. debate was better – it was easier to follow between two parties."