CTV/RDS Earned Record Canadian Super Bowl Audience Sunday Night

2:17 PM PST 2/6/2012 by Etan Vlessing

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In all, 8.1 million local viewers watched the Fox feed of the New York Giants-New England Patriots showdown, 12 percent up on last year's NFL championship game audience.

TORONTO - Super Bowl 2012 drew a record 8.1 million total Canadian viewers Sunday night on CTV and RDS.

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That made the match-up between the triumphant New York Giants and the New England Patriots the most watched NFL championship game ever in Canada, according to BBM Canada data.

CTV, which simulcast Fox’s Super Bowl XLVI feed north of the border, bettered by 12 percent the 7.3 million viewers that tuned into last year's NFL championship game between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, another record audience.

And that in turn was up on Super Bowl 2010, which drew 6.9 million viewers on CTV and RDS, the French-language cable sports channel.

At the same time, Canada being a hockey nation, the Sunday night audience for the Super Bowl 2012 telecast paled against an average of 16.6 million viewers, or half the Canadian population, that watched Team Canada beat Team U.S.A. to win the gold medal in the men's hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver - again on CTV.