Ratings This And That: Players & Women's Four-Ball Edition
/The longer I look at ratings news the more I do wonder what our 1500 Nielsen families watch. With declining ratings everywhere and television seemingly more powerful than ever, the juxtaposing trends can be confusing. So as always, read into these what you will...
Good news for Fox Sports 1, as it appears that the one Nielsen home watching the inaugural USGA Women's Four-Ball was joined by another Nielsen family tuning in for Fox analyst Pete Rose's second historic appearance, only to find the four-ball going extra holes.
According to Nielsen, Tuesday, May 12th's day one USGA Women's Four-Ball coverage from 7:00-10:22 p.m. on Fox Sports 1 drew a .05 (50,000 average viewers).
That edged reruns of Golf Channel's Inside PGA Tour, Champion Tour Learning Center and Golf’s Greatest Rounds, which drew .04.
Wednesday's 7-9:30 p.m. four-ball coverage on Fox Sports 1 drew a .036 (33,000 average) losing in the first hour when the match was played against Golf Channel's re-run of the Crenshaw documentary (.040) but just edging Golf Channel Academy. When the match ended and a Jack Nicklaus interview was shown, that edged Feherty repeats (.03, .02 and .02).
Golf Channel's Players week delivered some nice audiences across the channel and as well as on NBC. As a viewer, a big thank you to sponsors PWC and Optum for helping to limit the commercial breaks, leading to a better viewing experience and Optum name recognition, even if I have no idea what you do.
For Immediate Release:
ORLANDO, Fla. (May 14, 2015) – Golf Channel on NBC’s Coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship drew 19.3 million viewers, which makes it the most-viewed weekend for any PGA TOUR event since Tiger Woods’ 2013 win at TPC Sawgrass, according to data released by The Nielsen Company. Viewership peaked from 7:30-8 p.m. ET, with 7.8 million average viewers and a 4.77 U.S. household rating during the four-hole playoff, won by Rickie Fowler.
Other highlights from Golf Channel on NBC’s weekend coverage of THE PLAYERS include:
• Sunday’s coverage reached 5 million average viewers (+66% YOY), making it the third most-watched final round over the past year, only trailing the 2015 Masters and 2014 PGA Championship.
• Sunday’s coverage posted a 3.29 U.S. household rating, making it the second highest-rated final round at THE PLAYERS in a decade, trailing only 2013.
Golf Central Live From THE PLAYERS and early-round coverage propelled Golf Channel to draw 8.1 million viewers throughout the week, making it the third most-viewed week on Golf Channel since August 2013, trailing only the past two Masters weeks. With 174,000 average viewers per minute across the entire week, it is the second most-watched PLAYERS week ever on Golf Channel.
The excitement for THE PLAYERS carried into Monday with Morning Drive from 9-10 a.m. ET posting its most-watched Monday hour since August of last year (83,000 average viewers) and Golf Central posting its most-watched weekday telecast since April of last year (120,000 average viewers).
