Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge last week proved to be a boon for NBC Sports, which saw significant audience increases from the ’15 event. Thursday coverage, which documented most of Woods’ first round in 15 months, averaged 782,000 viewers on Golf Channel, a 190% increase over ’15. It was also the most-watched Round 1 ever for the event. The second round on Friday earned 768,000 viewers (+135% over ’15), while Saturday’s Round 3 coverage on NBC drew 2.5 million viewers, up 115% over last year. Sunday’s final-round coverage on NBC drew 1.4 million viewers, a 67% increase over ’15. A total 7.4 million minutes were streamed for the event, making it the sixth most-streamed golf event this year on NBC/Golf Channel.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL nat'l game: Giants-Steelers (85%) |
12/4
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
14.6
|
25,414
|
| "TNF": Cowboys-Vikings |
12/1
|
NBC/
NFL Net
|
8:27-11:33pm
|
12.8
|
21,760
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
12/4
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:05pm
|
10.8
|
18,539
|
| "SNF" Panthers-Seahawks |
12/4
|
NBC
|
8:30-11:30pm
|
10.2
|
17,752
|
| "MNF": Packers-Eagles |
11/28
|
ESPN
|
8:15-11:36pm
|
7.8
|
13,064
|
| NFL: (regional) |
12/4
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
7.3
|
12,221
|
College football: SEC Championship:
Alabama-Florida |
12/3
|
CBS
|
4:00-7:45pm
|
6.6
|
11,093
|
College football: Big 10 Championship:
Penn State-Wisconsin |
12/3
|
Fox
|
8:18-11:46pm
|
5.3
|
9,189
|
| "Football Night in America" |
12/4
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:22pm
|
4.3
|
7,280
|
College Football: Pac-12 Championship:
Washington-Colorado |
12/2
|
Fox
|
9:22pm-12:41am
|
3.4
|
5,671
|
College football: ACC Championship:
Clemson-Virginia Tech |
12/3
|
ABC
|
8:00pm-12:00am
|
3.3
|
5,338
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
12/4
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.1
|
4,874
|
College football:
Oklahoma State-Oklahoma |
12/3
|
Fox
|
12:30-4:15pm
|
3.1
|
4,817
|
| "The NFL Today" |
12/4
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.5
|
3,802
|
| "College Football Today" |
12/3
|
CBS
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
1.6
|
2,521
|
| "Fox College Football Pregame" |
12/2
|
Fox
|
8:00-8:14pm
|
1.4
|
2,270
|
| "Thursday Night Football Postgame" |
12/1
|
NFL
Net
|
11:33pm-12:11am
|
n/a
|
2,161
|
College football: AAC Championship:
Temple-Navy |
12/3
|
ABC
|
12:00-3:15pm
|
1.4
|
2,050
|
| Golf: Hero World Challenge: Third Round |
12/3
|
NBC
|
2:30-5:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,049
|
| College basketball: North Carolina-Indiana |
11/30
|
ESPN
|
9:18-11:29pm
|
n/a
|
1,973
|
| College basketball: UCLA-Kentucky |
12/3
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,926
|
| NBA: Cavaliers-Bulls |
12/2
|
ESPN
|
8:01-10:25pm
|
n/a
|
1,713
|
| "Monday Night Countdown" |
11/28
|
ESPN
|
6:00-8:15pm
|
n/a
|
1,670
|
| College basketball: Michigan State-Duke |
11/29
|
ESPN
|
9:32-11:31pm
|
n/a
|
1,652
|
| "College Football Special" |
12/3
|
CBS
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
1.1
|
1,635
|
| NBA: Rockets-Warriors |
12/1
|
TNT
|
10:51pm-2:09am
|
n/a
|
1,591
|
| "College GameDay" |
12/3
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:01pm
|
n/a
|
1,540
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
12/4
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,506
|
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" |
12/4
|
ESPN
|
10:00am-12:00pm
|
n/a
|
1,440
|
| Golf: Hero World Challenge: Final Round |
12/4
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,397
|
College football: MAC Championship:
Western Michigan-Ohio |
12/2
|
ESPN2
|
6:54-10:43pm
|
n/a
|
1,358
|
| "College Football Countdown" |
12/3
|
ABC
|
3:15-4:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,231
|
| FIS Downhill Skiing (taped) |
12/3
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,049
|
| EPL: West Ham-Arsenal |
12/3
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:00pm
|
0.6
|
917
|
Golf: World Long Drive
Championship (taped) |
12/4
|
NBC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
881
|
| "World of X Games: Sage Kotsenburg" |
12/3
|
ABC
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
0.6
|
862
|
"World of X Games:
Mastercraft Throwdown" |
12/3
|
ABC
|
4:30-5:00pm
|
0.5
|
751
|
Swimming: AT&T U.S. Winter
National Championships (taped) |
12/4
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
703
|
