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).