Tiger Woods Still Moves the Meter

Jon Show took a look at the impact Tiger Woods has had on the PGA Tour's ratings since his comeback.  Basically, it looks like it's the same as it was before Woods' knee injury.

The CA Championship and Bay Hill Invitational — the only two non-majors in which Woods contended in the first half of 2008 and 2009 — were up an average of 23 percent from last year. CA increased from a 2.5 to a 2.7 rating, and Bay Hill was up from a 2.7 to a 3.6 rating.

When Tiger doesn't play, though, ratings have fallen this season by about 0.2 points per event.

via Armchair Golf Blog
Yup, people watch Tiger too.

CBS got hosed on the schedule this year because they had an event that was rained out - Pebble Beach.  But, they did make up for it with a 114% increase in the ratings for the Quail Hollow event over last year.

NBC seems to have come out the winner in the Tiger return sweepstakes since they've had four of Woods' five weekends since his return.  That will even out some over the summer, but it totally explains why NBC is still running the "Tiger is Back!" ads from three months ago.