Nov 17, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman Robbie Smith (40) holds up the Grey Cup at BC Place against Winnipeg Blue Bombers . Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images Simon Fearn-Imagn Images

111th Grey Cup Continues Trend of Strong Viewership Numbers

Originally posted on CFL on SI | By Anthony Miller | Last updated Nov 19, 2024 10:49 AM ET

The latest edition of the Grey Cup successfully capped off a season of positive numbers for the CFL.

On Monday, the CFL announced that the 111th Grey Cup game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers averaged 3.6 million viewers between TSN, CTV and RDS. TSN reported that the total reach was 9.9 million viewers, with 4.25 million people watching the halftime show that featured the Jonas Brothers.

The @CFL’s #GreyCup continues to be one of the year’s biggest television events in !

Last night’s @TorontoArgos victory over the @Wpg_BlueBombers attracted an average audience of 3.6 million viewers on @TSN_Sports, @CTV, and @RDSca. pic.twitter.com/7nwZ2cD6xL
— TSN PR (@TSN_PR) November 18, 2024

This adds up to be about the same as the CFL saw last year in the Grey Cup between Winnipeg and Montreal when factoring in a dip this year in the French-language numbers. Last year, 752k people watched the French-language broadcast with the Alouettes helping with those numbers. This year, it dropped to 156k, which is a 79.2% decrease.

The 2024 Grey Cup beat out the 2021 and 2022 Grey Cup ratings, showing the league is starting to pick up momentum since the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also beat the ratings for the 2018 Grey Cup and was slightly below the 2019 Grey Cup viewership.

This is a step in the right direction for the CFL, which is looking to get its rating back to par with the days when the Grey Cup reached over 6 million in the late 2000s. A push on the international level could make the game even bigger, and a rise in the ratings is possible in 2025.

This article first appeared on CFL on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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