7.3 Million Watch Bilodeau Win Gold

    
    Vancouver 2010 Audience Day 3 Recap: 7.3 Million Watch Bilodeau Win Gold

         - 5 million see Kristina Groves win bronze in Long Track -
             - 26.5 million watch Consortium coverage yesterday -
      - Rogers Sportsnet records largest audience ever with 1.6 million
                             for Figure Skating -
         - After just 3 days, Beijing 2008 online video views already
              exceeded by CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca -
    

VANCOUVER, Feb. 15 /CNW/ - The first gold medal won on Canadian soil delivered golden ratings for Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium last night, when 7.3 million viewers watched Alexandre Bilodeau triumph in the Men's Moguls, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in Canadian history. Coverage of the event peaked at 9.7 million viewers with 37% of the population (12.3 million) watching some part. More than 1.3 million French-language viewers watched on V and RDS. Meanwhile, after just three days, the Consortium's websites have now delivered more video views than the 16 days of Beijing 2008, while 92% of Canadians (30.8 million) have now experienced Vancouver 2010 according to the Consortium's CUME (Canadian Unique Multimedia Engagement) index.

Average audiences of coverage by Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium for Day 3 of the 2010 Winter Games.

    
    OLYMPIC MORNING/LE RÉVEIL OLYMPIQUE                          1.6 million
    OLYMPIC DAYTIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES EN JOURNÉE                   4.5 million
    OLYMPIC PRIME TIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES AUX
     HEURES DE GRANDE ÉCOUTE                                     5.5 million


    Additional Highlights - Television
    ----------------------------------
    * 26.5 million viewers watched some part of yesterday's 2010 Winter
        Games coverage on Consortium channels.
    * Vancouverites are embracing the Games, with ratings about 25% higher
        in the host city than Toronto, Calgary and the national average over
        the first three days of the Games.
    * The Men's Mogul was watched by 6.3 million viewers on CTV alone.
    * 5 million viewers watched Kristina Groves win bronze in the Ladies'
        3000m final in Long Track Speed Skating.
    * Men's Biathlon and Pairs Figure Skating delivered more than 3 million
        viewers each.
    * 1.6 million viewers for Pairs Figure Skating on Rogers Sportsnet is
        the largest audience in the channel's history.

    Additional Highlights - Online
    ------------------------------
    * Since the beginning of the 2010 Winter Games, Consortium websites
        have served up 5.3 million video views as of today, exceeding the
        prior record of 4.9 million video views for the duration of the 2008
        Summer Games.
    * On Day 3 alone, site visitors watched 207,650 hours of video.
    * With more than 110,000 video views, the most popular video on
        CTVOlympics.ca was Alexandre Bilodeau's Gold Medal win. Bilodeau was
        also the most-viewed Athlete Profile, followed by Ryan Getzlaf.
    * More than 1,000 interactions with fans following Alexandre Bilodeau's
        Gold Medal win on www.Facebook.com/CTVOlympics.
    

To view the complete release please click http://ctvmedia.ca/olympics

For further information: Jim Quan, CTV Inc., [phone], [email protected]; Carolyn Fell, CTV Inc., [phone], [email protected]; Pamela Mollica, Consortium, [phone], [email protected]; Andrea Goldstein, Consortium, [phone], [email protected]