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Must see TV Woods’ victory boosts U.S Open ratings
NEW YORK (CNNSI.com) -- If you weren't watching Tiger Woods' record U.S. Open on Sunday, you were probably not near a television set. According to the experts, a record number of Americans tuned it to see Woods run away with his third major championship, earned at picturesque Pebble Beach. NBC's coverage of the final two rounds drew an average overnight rating of 7.5 with an 18 share, according to numbers released Monday by Nielsen Media Research. It was the highest two-day average for the U.S. Open since overnights were instituted in 1975. The overnight numbers produced by Woods' 15-stroke victory marked an increase of 14 percent from the 6.6 overnight drawn last year in Payne Stewart's victory. Sunday's fourth round brought an overnight mark of 8.8, a gain of 11 percent from 1999's 7.9. Even the early rounds fared much better from a year ago, with second-round coverage on Friday pulling in a 3.4 overnight rating, up 21 percent. Each rating point represents 1,080,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. Overnight ratings measure the largest markets, comprising 63 percent of the United States. The share is the percentage of in-use TVs tuned to a given program. Full national ratings were not available Monday. Viewers clearly were drawn to watching Woods finish a lopsided victory in pursuit of golfing records - much as they were during his 1997 Masters triumph. They certainly weren't tuning in for great head-to-head competition. Woods' 15-stroke margin over Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els was the largest by anyone in a major championship, erasing a record that had stood for 138 years. Woods also set at least four U.S. Open standards, including lowest score in relation to par (12 under). And NBC delivered, showing 65 of Woods' 67 strokes during the final round. The only two shots viewers did not get to see were tap-in putts for par at the fourth and ninth holes. Even Saturday morning's extra coverage from 9:30-11:30 a.m. EDT -- when Woods and others completed their fog-delayed second rounds -- drew a 4.4 overnight. That's not far off the 5.2 overnights that each of the last two games of the just-concluded Stanley Cup finals drew in prime time. The landscape of golf ratings changed dramatically in 1997 when Woods won the Masters by a record 12 shots. The full, national rating for CBS' final-round coverage of that tournament was a 14.1 and the two-day national number was 11.2 -- both the highest in CBS' 45 years of airing the Masters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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