October 11, 2012

PGA Tour Ratings '12: NBC Pulls Well Ahead Of CBS

October 11, 2012/ Geoff Shackelford

Sports Business Daily's Austin Karp sums up the PGA Tour's numbers rising in 2012, with NBC showing a 45% increase (3.43 avg viewers) and CBS a 20% spike (2.75 million). Golf Channel was up 23% with a average of 847,000 viewers.

But check out the chart with Karp's item. It includes 2011 numbers, where NBC and CBS posted nearly identical average viewer numbers (2.3 million for NBC to 2.2 million for CBS).

I'd be curious to see if this lead in 2012 is the product of CBS having more telecasts and a few rainouts, or perhaps the NBC-Golf Channel synergy providing better promotion and telecast lead-ins?

Geoff Shackelford

Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.