US pay-television broadcaster the Golf Channel had an average of 90,000 viewers at any given time last year, a record for the channel, according to audience measurement company Nielsen Media Research.
The average represented a 30-per-cent increase on 2010 figures and a three-per-cent increase on 2009. The 2010 figures were thought to have suffered due to the absence until April of golf’s biggest television draw, Tiger Woods, who temporarily withdrew from competitive play to focus on problems in his private live. However, the US golfer also missed four months of the 2011 season due to injury.
Golf Channel president Mike McCarley said the support of media group NBCUniversal had helped his channel break the record. Comcast, the media company that owns Golf Channel, acquired NBCUniversal in January 2011 and appointed NBC Sports senior vice-president McCarley as head of the golf channel. NBC pundits started to appear on Golf Channel broadcasts in February 2011.
McCarley told the Associated Press that the viewing record was testament to “the power of NBCUniversal cross promotion” as well as better partnerships with the sport’s governing bodies.