Golf Channel had its most-viewed year in ’12, marking the second straight year the net has set a new audience record. It averaged 95,000 total-day viewers, up 6% from ’11 and up 36% from ’10. Three quarters this past year were the most-watched quarters for Golf Channel, as well as seven months being the most-watched months. Shoulder coverage at several major events also saw record viewership, including Masters week, U.S. Open week, Ryder Cup week, Players Championship week and coverage around the PGA Tour FedExCup Playoffs. In its second season, the net’s “Morning Drive” show also saw a 12% jump in audience (Golf Channel).
ABOVE THE RIM: MSG Network drew a 5.32 local rating in N.Y. for Tuesday night’s Knicks-Trail Blazers game, which marked the return of Knicks F Amar’e Stoudemire. That figure marks the best MSG rating for a Knicks game this season. Through 24 telecasts, MSG is averaging a 3.52 rating for Knicks games, up 74% compared to the first 24 games last season (MSG)….YES Network averaged a 1.4 local rating in N.Y. for the Nets-Thunder game on Wednesday night, marking the 13th Nets game this season to top the 1.0 rating mark. Only one game topped that mark during all of last season, while no games reached that figure during ’10-11 (YES Network)….FS Oklahoma is averaging a 7.9 local rating in Oklahoma City through 26 games, making the Thunder the “top-rated NBA team on any regional sports network, well ahead” of the Heat’s 5.8 local rating on Sun Sports and the Spurs’ 5.7 rating on FS Southwest (NEWSOK.com, 1/3).
NOTES: The Patriots finished the ’12 regular season with a franchise-record 36.4 local rating in Boston. For the first time in club history, each game drew over a 30.0 local rating, including three games with a rating above 40.0. The team’s best local rating this season was a 43.1 for a game aginst the Colts in Week 11, which also marked the team’s third-best rating ever (Patriots)….NBC drew a 1.2 rating and 1.6 million viewers for its “Fight Night” boxing card on the afternoon of Dec. 22. The audience for the telecast from 4:00-6:00pm ET was an “impressive showing, considering its lead-in was snowboarding, which did a 0.5 rating.” The audience for the boxing telecast also “steadily grew throughout the show” (ESPN.com, 1/3)….TSN totaled 6.4 million viewers who watched some or part of the Dec. 31 Canada-Russia IIHF World Juniors game. That figure marks the most-viewed opening-round game for the tournament this year to date (TSN).
