NBC Sports has revealed its final round coverage of the Valspar Championship on Sunday earned a 5.11 overnight, all thanks to Tiger Woods being in the mix on the weekend.
The final-round TV rating from Copperhead was the the highest non-major audience since the 2013 Players Championship (won by, you guessed it, Woods), and the highest non-Masters rating since the 2015 US PGA Championship.
Even Saturday attracted a 3.26 overnight figure that was 181% up against the third round of the 2017 Valspar Championship, which Woods did not compete in.
Golf Channel’s Sunday round four lead-in coverage earned a 1.65 overnight - the highest-rated Golf Channel telecast at this event of all time.
Only the last two Open Championships and the 2016 Ryder Cup drew higher than the 27.2 million minutes streamed on Golf Channel and NBC Sports platforms.
Nearly 5.5 million minutes were streamed on Golf Channel and NBC Sports Digital on Saturday, a statistic that is up 612% against 2017.
He may be the biggest name in sports, matched only by Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Does he still move the needle? The answer is yes.
--- Neal H. Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and president of Pilson Communications, Inc.
Woods carded a third-round 67 to move to within one shot of the lead heading into Sunday, but could only muster a closing 70 to finish one shot shy of the victory behind Paul Casey.
NBC's David Feherty said...
The game is so much better with him in it. The game has been really good with these kids we have at the top of the game at the moment. It’s been phenomenal for the last few years, but people have short memories. If you saw the crowds Tiger has drawn these last weeks, dwarfing the crowds of the last group. People just want to get a glimpse of him. It’s extraordinary the effect that he’s had and continues to exert on the game. It really is something to see. If he can get back into contention, playing well again? Boy.
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We await final round viewing figures, but we can only assume similar pecentage increases.
With Woods and Phil Mickelson surging back into form, you have to believe the 2018 Masters next month will be one of the most viewed golf TV broacasts in years. Maybe ever.
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