Tiger Woods‘ return to Torrey Pines was no match for his return last year. In other news, Florida-Kentucky scored college basketball’s top audience of the week, the Australian Open women’s semifinals plunged, and NBC scored mixed results for recent NHL action.
Tiger’s Torrey Return Down From Last Year
First round coverage of the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines drew 672,000 viewers on Golf Channel Thursday, down 14% from last year (782K) but up 97% from 2016 (341K). Ratings were not immediately available. Both this year and last, Torrey Pines marked Tiger Woods‘ return to PGA competition after a long layoff.
College Hoops Ratings: UF-UK Tops Week
Last Saturday’s Florida-Kentucky college basketball game had a 1.0 rating and 1.8 million viewers on ESPN, up a tick in ratings and 29% in viewership from last year (Miami-Duke: 0.9, 1.4M) and up 100% and 116% respectively from 2016 (Arizona-Cal: 0.5, 817K). The increase came despite tougher NBA competition on ABC. The game scored the top college basketball audience of the week.
In other action, Kansas-Oklahoma scored a 1.0 and 1.6 million (+17%) on Super Tuesday. The Mississippi State-Kentucky nightcap had a 0.75 (-28%) and 1.2 million (-27%). On Big Monday the previous night, North Carolina-Virginia Tech had a 0.7 and 1.0 million (+26%) and West Virginia-TCU a 0.6 and 977,000 (+32%).
Big Drop For Williams-Less Aussie Open Semis
Wednesday’s Australian Open women’s semifinals — Simona Halep vs. Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki vs. Elise Mertens — scored a 0.36 rating and 534,000 viewers on ESPN2, down 46% in ratings and 47% in viewership from last year (0.67, 1.0M). Last year’s semifinals featured both Serena and Venus Williams.
Recent NHL Ratings Mixed
NBC earned a 0.7 rating and 1.1 million viewers for last Sunday’s Flyers-Capitals NHL regular season game, down 13% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (Rangers-Red Wings: 0.8. 1.2M).
Shifting to NBCSN, Maple Leafs-Blackhawks scored 408,000 viewers on this week’s edition of Wednesday Night Rivalry — down 18% from last year (Flyers-Rangers: 496K) and down 25% from 2016 (Flyers-Capitals: 543K). Flyers-Red Wings had 222,000 the previous night (+1%) and Lightning-Blackhawks 256,000 on Monday (+40%).
[Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 1.23, 1.24, 1.25, 1.26; Programming Insider 1.23, 1.24, 1.25]
