Tiger Woods is back!
If you need proof that Tiger moves the needle more than anyone else in almost any sport, look no further than the ratings for the 3rd and final round at the Valspar Championship last week.
The third round scored an overnight rating of 3.26. That is the highest rated third round for a PGA Tour event on any network in nearly 12 years!
And if that’s not telling, just look at the Sunday numbers!
The final round of the Valspar Championship earned a 5.11 overnight rating making it the highest rated non-major PGA Tour broadcast since Tiger won the 2013 Players Championship.
Staggering!
Golf Channel PR sent out a few more interesting numbers for everyone to gawk at.
· Coverage peaked at a 6.62 from 5:30-6p ET on NBC and a 2.12 from 2:30-3p ET on Golf Channel.
· Final Round coverage of the Valspar Championship on NBC was +28% vs. final round of the 2015 Wyndham Championship (4.0), the last time Tiger Woods contended on a Sunday, and +73% vs. final round of The Honda Classic a few weeks ago.
· The Valspar Championship saw 27.2 million minutes streamed across Golf Channel / NBC Sports’ Digital platforms, becoming the most-streamed PGA TOUR event ever for the network, and the fourth-most streamed golf event overall for NBC Sports behind the 2016 and 2017 Open, along with the 2016 Ryder Cup. (source: Adobe Analytics)
· Sunday’s coverage saw 15.4 million minutes streamed, +1060% vs. 2017.
· In the event’s home market of Tampa, the final round Overnight rating was a 10.98.
If anyone knows what this means for the sport, it’s the professionals themselves.
Don’t believe me? Just take Eddie Pepperell’s word for it.
HE’S BACK!