Golf Channel Records Highest Rating In Years With PGA Tour Opener
by Charles Boyer on Jan 10, 2012 8:35 AM EST
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PrintIf anyone thinks that the PGA Tour's TV ratings would suffer in its first tournament of 2012 without its marquee player and a rising tide of Tebow mania, think again:
Golf Channel, coming off the most-watched year in its 17-year history, teed off the 2012 PGA Tour season by recording the highest-rated and most-watched opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions since the network began covering the event in 2007.
Golf Channel's first-round coverage on Friday from Hawaii garnered a 0.7 household rating and 705,000 average viewers, according to Nielsen data. That was up 27% over last year's previous best and more than 50% better than any previous opening round of this event on Golf Channel.
Surely NBC and Golf Channel executives are thrilled that they did so well in what seemed like a tough battle for viewers eyes this weekend. Without a doubt, the top sport in America is football, and its top league is of course the NFL, which began its playoffs this weekend. That following the annual orgy of college football bowl games leading up to the championship game last night. At the same time, college basketball, another sport of great interest, served up the start of the meat of its annual all-you-can-eat schedule when it started conference play. And, of course, both sports received plenty of hype beforehand with an endless parade of talking heads taking a look from every angle. But instead of choosing yammering pundits, plenty of people chose live competition in a sport that seemingly has no offseason.
In short, despite whatever happened over the weekend, it would seem at first that eyes would be in short supply, but GC and the Tour came out of it all smiles.
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Surely the incredibly boring well-defended collegiate National Championship and lack of scoring in that game tempted many viewers to flip channels throughout the night.
www.ChicagoDuffer.com
I like what my friend, a seven year veteran of the NFL, told me last night: “you can tell who knows jack s*** about football tonight. Those who know the game for real appreciate that this is probably the best defense in the history of college football and those who think the game is boring are either XBox head coaches or have never walked onto a field in their life.”
But what does he know…he only has a Super Bowl ring.
by Charles Boyer on Jan 10, 2012 9:24 AM EST up reply actions
Not to get into a college football debate on a golf blog, but I disagree with your friend.
What fans were subjected to was not the “greatest defense ever”, but moreso a testament as to how waiting five weeks to play your next game can impact even the greatest teams in the country.
www.ChicagoDuffer.com
by Adam Fonseca on Jan 10, 2012 12:19 PM EST up reply actions
Adam – take a look at LSU’s point totals for their games this year. They scored 40+ in 8 of 14 games plus 52 in another. Two more in the mid 30’s – that’s 11 of 14 games wihere they scored a lot of points. Miss State kept them under 20….and then there’s Alabama – 9 points over 2 games. ‘Bama shut LSU down. LSU didn’t cross midfield a single time. That’s just flat out amazing defense.
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no flipping needed
The golf was finished before the National Championship game came on TV. They finished an entire 3 minutes and 6 seconds ahead of the BCS broadcast time – mostly thanks to Johnathan Byrd’s snail pace that had them a full hole and a half out of position at one point.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
I’m surprised at the rise in numbers – happy for them – but surprised. Most of the country is in a stretch of warm weather…at least warmer than usual. Very little of the US has the usual snowfall they see most years. I got a note that a buddy had played 18 in North Dakota on New Years Day. I have always thought that the colder weather would keep people inside, and they would turn on to watch golf from Hawaii. Now they’re tuning in more when it’s warm out ?
If at first you don't secede, try try again
Rating numbers
Eh, Charles B….Ah, yes rating numbers. What’s the population in Y’all land? Now “rating” points, TVR/GRP’s, leave a broad spectrum for interpretation. With that said yes it is nice to see GC increase their viewership. One of the pluses for GC is that’s their niche in the market and viewers are loyal.
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