RealGM

Leafs vs Canadians pre season game 1.3 million viewers
Blue jays vs washington 568,000 viewers
raptors vs suns pre season 122,000 viewers

oilers vs flames 900,000 viewers

Whats is going on? we are still the champs

https://brioux.tv/blog/2020/07/29/leafs-canadiens-pre-season-tilt-tuesdays-biggest-tv-draw/

the average canadian lost interest once kawhi left.

Raptors suns were on at 3 pm on a monday and it was their 3rd of a meaningless game.
Blue Jays were playing a regular season game
Leafs habs was their one and only preseason game.

Having said that, we all know the Raptors are 3rd on this list anyways but let's see how the ratings for the lakers game are...

Hockey will gain more immediate interest because there was very little delay between the start of games and the playoffs.... there was only one exhibition game.

I am a MUCH bigger basketball fan than hockey fan, but will watch some NHL playoffs (no regular season). I have found myself watching as much hockey today instead of basketball because the games mean quite a bit more.

many factors

bandwagoners, fake season, not enough build up to generate interest

leafs vs canadians would draw more interest than raps vs suns

Leafs vs. Canadiens is the NHL version of Lakers vs. Celtics. Having said that, basketball is definitely still behind the other two sports in Canada.

I dont have cable anymore, most of my friends stream illegally.

If the raps make another run, they’ll get big ratings as it’s a decent sized fan base and you’ll get the casual fans along for the ride.

But, at the end of the day, the Leafs and Blue Jays have a significantly larger hardcore fan base than the Raptors. It’s not a slight against the Raptors, and it might change at some point, it just is what it is right now.

Raptors vs Suns was the last of meaningless 3pm weekday scrimmage, they wont top the Leafs but I think the seeding games will be closer to the Blue Jays numbers.

Basketball always does worse in the regular season and preseason than other sports in Canada. Canadians usually don't tune into bball seriously until the playoffs.

People outside of the gta don’t watch basketball.

leafs pre-season wasnt a pre-season match considereing its there only chance at play before they dive into playoffs

raptors match up with suns is nothing more then a scrimmage and im sure the raptors vs lakers will beat other sports easily.

I'm shocked a meaningless 3pm Raptors vs Suns scrimmage had those numbers.

Lakers vs Raptors will do high numbers as have all the Raptors TV numbers pre Covid.

Hockey will always do bigger. The Jays have a big following nationwide.

But if you look at online trends and social media, the Raptors popularity is very high.

The Leafs and Jays have always had better TV ratings than the Raptors.

Raps in 4 wrote:Leafs vs. Canadiens is the NHL version of Lakers vs. Celtics. Having said that, basketball is definitely still behind the other two sports in Canada.

Cannot believe Raptors are behind MLB except for the fact Rogers lives and breathes to promo their Jays. Is that two playoff runs since '93? I like hockey but when Leaf jokes kind of lost the laugh track I just gave up. No continuity. Boston ate our souls and will not be returning them for another 10,000 years.

Now rationalize the bitching about which channel the game is on with those ratings #.

raptorstime wrote:I dont have cable anymore, most of my friends stream illegally.

Pretty much this. I no longer have channels like tsn2 or sportsnet one so I had to stream the game last night. Most of my friends did the same. I'm sure that's the case for the majority of the younger demographic.

It's a conspiracy guyz!!

Lol how many people knew the raptors played at 3 pm?

How much of the fanbase has cable? Nearly EVERYONE I know 25-40 is a cable cutter.

Was that the Jays game with Nate Pearson pitching? Our highly touted pitching prospect making his pro debut? Compared to a 3rd preseason game in the afternoon against a meh tram and the 1st hockey game in months against their biggest rivals and another Canadian team (which also boosts ratings as its another market).
Also, what channel was the Raps sun's game on. Was it on Sportsnet1 like yesterday, which many people don't have, compared to Jays (SN) and Leafs (SN and CBC)? Also, despite Jays and Raps both being Canada's only teams, Jays have a much bigger national following. Also as other mentioned, younger demographic streams and this is the core raps demographic. Older demographic follow Jays and hockey more and they still have cable.

Not surprising to see the resting numbers. Context is key