TSN Scores Highest-Rated NHL ENTRY DRAFT Ever Ratings / TSN Posted by RAD on Jun 29, 2009 - 03:52 PM TSN's coverage of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft has delivered a record audience! Overnight data from BBM Nielsen Media Research confirms that TSN averaged 582,000 viewers for its four-hour prime-time broadcast on Friday night - making it the most-watched NHL ENTRY DRAFT ever. Friday's broadcast on TSN surpassed the previous audience high of 540,000 viewers for the 2006 NHL ENTRY DRAFT from Vancouver. Audience levels for the 2009 NHL ENTRY DRAFT on TSN peaked at 681,000 viewers between 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET, as the top three draft picks were made. An additional 473,000 viewers watched live Draft coverage on RDS making total viewership for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft 1.055 million in Canada. TSN's Draft coverage was helmed by host James Duthie from the Draft stage at the Bell Centre in Montreal, along with TSN's Draft Panel of Bob McKenzie, Pierre McGuire and Gord Miller. Hockey Insider Darren Dreger and reporter Ryan Rishaug brought fans in-depth insights and analysis from the Draft floor. Throughout the week TSN delivered an unprecedented amount of Draft coverage including two pre-Draft specials, Bob McKenzie's NHL Draft Ranking: 2009 and NHL on TSN 2009 Mock Draft, as well extensive coverage on SportsCentre and OFF THE RECORD WITH MICHAEL LANDSBERG. Online, TSN.ca proved to be the go-to website for hockey fans reaching 4.9 million page views on Friday - a record number for an NHL Draft day. More than 711,000 video views were recorded on TSN.ca - ranking as the second-highest number of video views in one day just behind this year's NHL Trade Deadline Day (March 4, 2009). Coverage of the Draft also helped TSN.ca set a record for most video views in a single week with over 2.968 million views. TSN.ca delivered extensive coverage leading up to the 2009 NHL ENTRY DRAFT including full analysis on all of the top prospects and live online chats with TSN's team of hockey experts including Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger and Pierre McGuire. For the first time, TSN had Hockey Insider Darren Dreger giving fans a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the all of excitement surrounding the Draft with regular updates on Twitter. In just over a week, more than 11,000 Twitter users have signed up to follow Dreger. With all of the Draft picks now in place, hockey fans can celebrate the start of the NHL's free agency period on Canada Day with the third annual Free Agent Frenzy special, airing Wednesday, July 1 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. ET on TSN2 and from to 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET on TSN. This article is from CHANNEL CANADA   http://irc.channelcanada.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://irc.channelcanada.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3107