|
Tiger drags golf ratings
|
 |
August 16, 2001: 5:57 p.m. ET
But game can survive its most popular player's recent stumbles
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Golf's glorious spring turned into a shaky summer as Tiger Woods began the PGA Championship in mortal fashion, endangering the tournament's television ratings.
Woods began the season's last major tournament Thursday with a 3-over-par score of 73 -- putting him in a tie for 114th place. TNT, which aired the tournament Thursday and Friday, and CBS, airing it Saturday and Sunday, could not have been happy with Woods' performance.
CBS faces especially stiff competition this weekend, going head-to-head with national broadcasts by Fox of two juicy baseball matchups: the Seattle Mariners vs. the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves vs. the San Francisco Giants. Things don't get any easier on Sunday, when TNT airs the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race, a big ratings draw.
If Woods' poor play continues, it would mark the third straight major tournament in which he has finished far back in the pack. But golf's average TV ratings for the year still are climbing, up to 3.6, better than baseball and basketball, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"Golf ratings are up with or without Tiger," said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and now president of consulting firm Pilson Communications. "Nobody's going to argue the point that he impacts ratings. At the same time, golf is a highly profitable, highly successful sport. This isn't a doomsday scenario for golf."
Nobody was talking about doomsday when CBS aired the Masters Tournament in April. Woods' victory there drew an estimated 40.1 million viewers and a 13.3 national TV rating for the final round on April 8. It was the second-highest final-round rating ever for the Masters, after the rating for Woods' victory in 1997. Each ratings point represents about 1 million homes with TVs.
After completing a Grand Slam sweep of the four major tournaments, winning the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes and winning another Masters, Woods seemed virtually unstoppable, and he pulled TV ratings up with him.
Click here to check golf stocks
Even after Woods finished 12th at the U.S. Open tournament this June, ratings for NBC's complete coverage of that tournament still were the second-highest in the event's history. The highest U.S. Open rating ever? Woods' record 15-stroke victory in 2000.
But when Woods ended July's British Open tied for 25th place, ratings for ABC's coverage plunged to their lowest level in 5 years.
"It reflects that he's now the most widely known sports personality in the world," Pilson said. "When he's playing, he brings a substantial number of viewers who don't otherwise watch golf. But the core golf viewership is significant and valuable." 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
