POSTED: Wednesday March 2nd 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NBC SPORTS GROUP SCORES VIEWERSHIP GAINS FOR WGC-ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
“Golf Channel on NBC” Two-Day Coverage up 71% Over Last Year and Best Viewership since 2008
NEW YORK - March 1, 2011 - NBC Sports and Golf Channel generated significant viewership increases for the combined 28 hours of live coverage (55 hours total coverage) of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships Wednesday through Sunday. With Tiger Woods eliminated on Wednesday and Phil Mickelson eliminated on Thursday, and with England’s Luke Donald defeating Germany’s Martin Kaymer in Sunday’s final, Golf Channel’s three-day average viewership was up 84 percent from last year while viewership for “Golf Channel on NBC” coverage rose 71 percent.
Golf Channel’s strong viewership for the WGC-Accenture helped propel the network to its second most-watched February ever (15.3 million unique viewers). Through the first eight weeks of the 2011 season, viewership of the PGA TOUR on Golf Channel is up 59 percent over last year.
The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship continued Golf Channel’s streak of delivering higher ratings for every PGA TOUR round this year versus comparable rounds in 2010.
WGC-ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
“GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC” VIEWERSHIP: The weekend coverage on NBC (2-6 p.m. Saturday, 2-7 p.m. Sunday), which has been rebranded as “Golf Channel on NBC,” averaged 2.5 million viewers, a gain of 71 percent from last year’s 1.5 million viewers on CBS, and the most-watched since 2008 when Tiger Woods won the event, defeating Stewart Cink.
GOLF CHANNEL VIEWERSHIP: Golf Channel’s early round coverage of the WGC-Accenture started Wednesday with its best day overall since 2009’s President’s Cup coverage and continued on Friday with its most-watched early round without Tiger Woods since THE PLAYERS in May 2008.
Highlights include:
* Three-day average viewership up 84 percent over 2010 (771,000 vs. 419,000)
* Wednesday’s Day 1 up 86 percent over 2010 (712,000 vs. 318,000).
* Thursday’s Day 2 up 95 percent over 2010 (768,000 vs. 393,000).
* Friday’s Day 3 up 83 percent over 2010 (890,000 vs. 486,000).
* Saturday’s earlier-than-scheduled, five-hour coverage of the quarterfinal match that concluded on NBC was up 71% over 2010 (562,000 vs. 328,000).
State of the Game Live, a Golf Central special that featured a panel of golf’s most-respected voices from NBC Sports and Golf Channel, including Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo discussing the most pressing issues in the sport, doubled Golf Channel’s year-to-date prime-time average for non-PGA TOUR programming.
CROSS-CHANNEL PRIORITY: The WGC-Accenture on Golf Channel and NBC was identified by NBCUniversal’s Marketing Council as a cross-channel priority. It received extensive promotion across NBC Universal’s 20 channels and more than 40 websites. The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship marked the first shared coverage for NBC Sports and Golf Channel since both organizations became members of the NBC Sports Group on Jan. 28 when the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed.
GOLF CHANNEL AND NBC SPORTS CO-BRANDING: All golf coverage on NBC has been re-branded as “Golf Channel on NBC.” The coverage incorporates the Golf Channel look throughout every telecast, down to the logo on the NBC Sports commentators’ apparel. Golf Channel’s tournament graphics are showcased throughout all coverage, which now includes a custom-made Golf Channel-NBC peacock combination logo. And, "Golf Channel powered by NBC Sports" is being incorporated into all of Golf Channel's coverage.
CONTACT:
Dan Higgins
Golf Channel
(407) 496-8107
dhiggins@golfchannel.com
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Keywords · NBC · Sports · Golf · Golf Channel · WGC · Accenture · Match Play Championships · PGA Tour
Name: Adam Freifeld
Organization: NBC Sports
Email:
Phone: 212-664-6772
URL: www.NBCSports.com
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