Canadian debate wins TV ratings battle Over the US debate

http://news.therecord.com/article/424017 

 

Somehow the statistics on my own sites do not reflect it, Much much More people still do want to discuss the US campaign over the Canadian one.. few Canadians seem to be willing even on other sites to talk about the Canadian politicians it seems too. Undeniably even the Canadian media has given a lot of Attention to the US elections, and to Sarah Palin as well

 

“Canadian debate wins TV ratings battle October 03, 2008  CP  TORONTO — Faced with a choice between the U.S. vice-presidential debate and a showdown involving their homegrown political leaders, Canadian TV viewers appeared to be more interested in what was going on in their own backyard.Thursday night’s faceoff in the U.S. generated intense interest because of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting hockey mom sharing the presidential ticket with Republican John McCain. Her opponent in the debate was Joe Biden, who’s the running-mate of Democrat Barack Obama.

Despite this, CTV says viewers chose the Canadian debate over the American one by a 3-1 margin in Toronto, 4-1 in Vancouver and 3.5-1 in Calgary. Locally, you can add your voice by telling us which debate you watched, or whether you watched at all, by participating in our weekend poll at http://www.therecord.com

CTV says they arrived at the numbers using data from all Canadian networks as well as from U.S. affiliates in each of those markets.

The network said more than three million Canadians watched the televised tussle between Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, NDP Leader Jack Layton, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May on CBC, CTV, Global, Newsworld, TVO and CTV Newsnet.

Eight million viewers, they said, watched some part of the debate.

It’s difficult to draw comparisons to the last federal election, because there were two English-language debates during that campaign compared to one this time around. In addition, there was no U.S. election going on at the time.

In the U.S., meanwhile, far more people watched Biden and Palin than watched the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama.

Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings in the 55 biggest American markets were up 42 per cent from the same measurement of McCain and Obama’s first encounter on Sept. 26.

Nielsen’s specific estimate of how many people watched Thursday night will be out later, but indications are it will be one of the most-watched political debates ever.