Golf Channel Enjoys Its Best September Ever As NBC Winds Down Its Orlando Operation

From Golf Channel PR

Yes, it’s a pandemic where the U.S. Open moved to September and, out of no where, NBC/Golf Channel reclaimed the rights earlier this year.

Still, it’s quite bizarre to read about the channel enjoying its best September and strong showing among sports channels as Comcast/NBCUniversal eliminates most Golf Channel jobs and moves a very limited operation to Connecticut.

From NBC Sports PR:

• GOLF Channel’s Total Day viewership in the quarter (118,000) ranked #1 among all single-sport networks, posting a 33% increase from the same time period in 2019.

• Among viewers in the Adult 25-54 demographic, GOLF Channel’s third quarter marked its most watched quarter in Total Day viewership in two years (Q3 in 2018, which featured The Open, Tiger Woods’ win at the TOUR Championship and the Ryder Cup), and delivered a 40% increase from last year’s third quarter.

Wow, cable’s still got it!

• The conclusion of the PGA TOUR Playoffs combined with the return of the U.S. Open to NBC Sports Group led to GOLF Channel’s second most-watched September ever (124,000). GOLF Channel also delivered its most-watched August (113,000) since 2017.

Cable still has it since I last interrupted!

• Early round coverage of the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR season after the restart on GOLF Channel was the most-watched for these events vs. the same/comparable 12 events since the start of the FedExCup format in 2007.

No doubt some VP in PVB parlayed this into a bonus, citing the format tweaks.

But hey, great to see golf on cable still works. Someone tell the brass.