Tiger Woods‘ official return to the PGA Tour gave Golf Channel a big lift on Thursday. In other news, the Warriors delivered mixed results for ESPN Wednesday, and the NBA on TNT was also a mixed bag.
Tiger Fuels Big Start For PGA at Torrey Pines
- First round coverage of the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines, which marked Tiger Woods‘ first official PGA start since 2015, drew 784,000 viewers on Golf Channel Thursday afternoon — up 130% from last year (341K), up 7% from 2015 (735K) and the largest first round audience for the tournament in at least four years. Early round figures prior to 2014 were not available.
Warriors Up and Down on ESPN Wednesday
- Warriors/Hornets had a 1.2 final rating and 1.8 million viewers on the latest edition of ESPN’s NBA Wednesday, up 20% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Rockets/Spurs last year (1.0, 1.6M) and up 50% and 61% respectively from Nets/Hawks in 2015 (0.8, 1.1M). Compared to Mavericks/Warriors on the same night but in a later window last year, ratings fell 13% (from 1.35 to 1.17) and viewership 12% (from 2.1M). The Lakers/Blazers nightcap had a 0.9 and 1.3 million (-36% in both measures).
Mixed Results For NBA on TNT
- Mavericks/Thunder scored 1.3 million viewers on the NBA on TNT Thursday night, up 30% from Knicks/Raptors last year (1.0M) and up 78% from Nuggets/Grizzlies in 2015 (733K). Ratings increased 27% year-over-year (from 0.67 to 0.85). Lakers/Jazz closed out the night with a 0.7 (-13%) and 1.0 million (-10%).
(Numbers via Programming Insider 1.28, 1.27, ShowBuzz Daily 1.28)
