More On The Match Ratings: A Younger Audience For The Old Guys
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Media and tour executives insist golfers must get younger to attract the demographic coveted by advertisers. That means hyping young players, encouraging them to turn pro earlier and overall, declaring anyone under 30 to be capable of curing cancer while breaking 70 on a daily basis and delivering young eyeballs.
So as more numbers roll in from The Match: Champions For Charity, it’s noteworthy that four guys in their forties—and one about to turn 50—attracted a record rating on cable, robust sales, and even a younger audience than the previous week’s younger foursome for TaylorMade Driving Relief.
First, a recap on the participants, starting with The Match:
Tom Brady 42
Tiger Woods 44
Peyton Manning 44
Phil Mickelson 49
And the TaylorMade Driving Relief foursome:
Matthew Wolff 21
Rickie Fowler 31
Rory McIlroy 31
Dustin Johnson 35
According to Showbuzzdaily.com, almost 1/3 of The Match 2’s audience was in the coveted 18-49 demo and the number was even better on on TruTV, also meaning there are people of any age group who know how to find TruTV:
About 30% of The Match’s audience landed in the 18-49 demo despite the 44.5 average age of the participants.
The numbers for TaylorMade Driving Relief with a foursome averaging 29.5 years:
That’s 25% of the almighty buyers for a younger, supposedly more millennial-friendly group of golfers. And a grand total of (at least) 860,000 fewer viewers 18-49. While not a huge difference in the percentage department, The Match did rout Driving Relief in overall audience and even took chipped away at NASCAR’s ratings.
Given the sometimes blatant ageism in golf and view that young participants translate to a young audience, The Match’s overall dominating win should be noted. But probably won’t.
In other ratings news, Sunday night’s Tiger Slam documentary debut following completion of The Match on Golf Channel failed to land in cable’s top 150 shows.
I discussed what made The Match a success with myself on the latest Shack Show:
