Menu
Sports Media

ABC'S RECORD OVERNIGHT FOR BRITISH OPEN HIGHEST SINCE '71

          ABC's 7.5/12 overnight Nielsen rating for Sunday's
     coverage of Tiger Woods' dominant performance at the British
     Open makes it the "most-watched in British Open history,
     with 28 million viewers," according to USA TODAY's Rudy
     Martzke.  Meanwhile, Saturday's 5.3/16 overnight rating was
     "at least the highest in 11 years" (USA TODAY, 7/25). 
     BLOOMBERG's Rick Westhead wrote that Sunday's overnight "was
     the best for the final day of the event since Lee Trevino's
     win in the 1971 British Open at Royal Birkdale produced a
     record 8.0 national rating."  The highest-rated overnight
     markets were: West Palm Beach, FL (10.7/26), Houston
     (10.0/25) and Orlando, FL (9.9/25).  In N.Y., the final
     round averaged a 6.1/16 (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/24).  In L.A.,
     Sunday's coverage earned a 7.4/25 local rating (L.A. TIMES,
     7/25).  ELECTRONIC MEDIA writes the fourth-round coverage is
     "believed to have garnered 1.5 million more households" than
     the '71 British Open, to equal 6.5 million total households,
     due to the increases in the TV universe (ELEC. MEDIA, 7/25). 
     The AP's Howard Fendrich notes Sunday's overnight is "all
     the more impressive given the time of the broadcast,"
     10:00am-2:00pm ET.  Meanwhile, ESPN reported a 2.34 cable
     rating for Friday's second-round coverage, making it the
     network's second-highest British Open rating ever.  The
     highest was last year's 2.35 cable rating for third-round
     Saturday coverage, which was moved from ABC due to JFK Jr.'s
     plane crash.  For its two-day coverage, ESPN averaged a 1.7
     cable rating, up 35% from a 1.26 last year (AP, 7/25).
          THE EYES OF THE WORLD: In Canada, TSN's four-day
     coverage of the British Open averaged 330,000 viewers, up
     12% from last year's 295,000 viewers (TSN).
          STOP FOR TIGER: CNNfn's Beverly Schuch: "Tiger Woods is
     not only breaking records for himself, but for the TV
     networks covering the PGA events" ("Biz Buzz," 7/24). In
     Hartford, Matt Eagan: "Simply put, when Woods is on the
     screen people are watching" (HARTFORD COURANT, 7/25).  Opti
     Media National Advertising Buys Manager Bob Flood, on Woods'
     recent record-breaking performances: "Do I see people
     getting bored if he keeps this up?  Not really. ... Tiger's
     clearly got a great deal of appeal and is bringing new
     audiences to golf.  He has youth appeal, he cuts across
     racial barriers.  He's articulate.  Golf isn't going to get
     NFL-type ratings anytime soon, but there's no doubt the
     sport is on the rise" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/25).  Optimum
     Media Direction's Steve Grubbs: "I don't think it's a
     possibility that people won't tune in to watch Tiger because
     his victories are foregone conclusions.  People are
     intrigued by his level of expertise.  There never was a time
     when it became ho-hum to watch Michael Jordan" (USA TODAY,
     7/25).  In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reports that during its
     coverage Sunday, ABC cut to Woods 247 times, totaling 69:19
     of "Tiger face time."  Sandomir: "It would have been more,
     but ABC wasted time enduring the four shots David Duval
     needed to depart a pot bunker at No. 17" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25). 
     CBS' "Late Show" offered "British Open Highlights Of Golfers
     Other Than Tiger Woods."  The footage then consisted of a
     blank screen ("Late Show," CBS, 7/24). 
          KUDOS: In Boston, Jim Baker writes that ABC's Mike
     Tirico and Curtis Strange have "improved ABC's golf coverage
     to the point of challenging NBC and CBS" (B. HERALD, 7/25). 
       

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2000/07/25/Sports-Media/ABCS-RECORD-OVERNIGHT-FOR-BRITISH-OPEN-HIGHEST-SINCE-71.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2000/07/25/Sports-Media/ABCS-RECORD-OVERNIGHT-FOR-BRITISH-OPEN-HIGHEST-SINCE-71.aspx

CLOSE