There’s a common refrain in golf that Tiger Woods doesn’t just move the needle, he is the needle. After seeing the ratings for Sunday’s Tour Championship and FedEx Cup finale, which resulted in Woods’ 80th career victory on the PGA Tour, that needle assertion is tough to argue with.
“NBC Sports Group’s final round coverage of the TOUR Championship on Sunday (3:00-6:15 p.m. ET) earned a 5.21 Overnight rating, as Tiger Woods claimed his 80th career victory, and his first in five years,” NBC Sports Group said in a press release. “The telecast is up 206% vs. 2017 (1.70). It also becomes the highest-rated telecast in the history of the FedExCup Playoffs (2007-’18) and the highest-rated PGA TOUR telecast in 2018 (excluding majors). Coverage peaked from 5:30-6p (7.19) as Woods finished his round and as Justin Rose was being crowned the FedExCup champion, only trailing the peaks for The Masters (11.03) and PGA Championship (8.28) in 2018. The extended coverage window (1:30-6:15 p.m. ET) posted at 4.35 Overnight rating, which is the highest-rated TOUR Championship telecast on record (2000-’18).”
Tiger’s first PGA Tour win in more than five years leads to ratings boom https://t.co/FLRSkfYe7y
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 24, 2018
Aside from the huge numbers the broadcast did, 18.4 million minutes were streamed across NBC Sports Digital platforms (+561% year-over-year), which made the East Lake finale the most-streamed NBC Sports’ Sunday round (excluding majors) on record dating back to 2013.
“Tiger Woods’ win at the Tour Championship was an unforgettable event in golf,” Mike McCarley, President, Golf, NBC Sports Group, said. “The massive gallery following Tiger up the 18th fairway was matched by record viewership across NBC Sports’ platforms. Golf is experiencing a surge in momentum with Tiger and the young stars of the Tiger-inspired generation atop leaderboards. We look forward to this momentum continuing this week at the Ryder Cup.”
NBC Sports will broadcast nearly 30 hours of live coverage from Paris this week for the biennial Ryder Cup.
