TORONTO – CanWest Media Works trumpeted the fact it had more shows in the top 10 than it did a year ago in a media release Wednesday. But according to Global’s figures, rival private broadcaster CTV still leads in the three key markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. And it was the CBC – not Global – that showed the most improvement in Vancouver and Calgary.
In spring 2006 in the Toronto market, CTV had eight of the top-10 shows, Global two and the CBC none. This spring, Global gained one top 10 show for a total of three, while CTV retained the lead with seven.
In the Vancouver market, CTV remained the leader although it had four less TV shows in the top 10. The big winner was the CBC, which had no top-10 programs in this market in spring 2006, but had three in spring 2007. Global picked up one top-10 program over the past year for a total of three. CTV went from eight top-10 shows in spring 2006 to four in spring 2007.
In the Calgary, Global held steady with three top ten shows. CTV fell from six to four, with the CBC improving from having just one top-ten-rated show to three between spring 2006 and spring 2007.
Global’s most successful show were House, which had over 2 million viewers weekly and was in the top ten in all three markets, and Prison Break, which had about 1.5 million viewers weekly and was the number one program in its time slot. As well, the episodic thriller 24 drew 1.3 million viewers weekly and was number one in its time slot in spring 2007, while Heroes was the top new series of 2006-07 with 1.4 million weekly viewers.
