Tiger’s triumph leads to incredible ratings surge
BULLS OF THE WEEK
There were two sport business winners this week and both had NBC written all over them.
A memorable Sunday initiated a golden week for Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour, and for the Los Angeles Rams and the NFL.
Tiger capped his comeback story, winning the Tour Championship Sunday. The win gave the PGA Tour all kinds of momentum going into the Ryder Cup this weekend. Thanks to Tiger, the Tour Championship showed a 206 per cent spike in TV ratings and a 561 per cent increase in video streaming year-over-year.
NBC used the strong golf leadin to record another solid edition of Sunday Night Football. The U.S. network saw its SNF platform slump in 2016 and 2017 and even in the first two weeks of this season before rallying for its two best regular-season TV audiences since 2015.
That has helped NFL TV ratings “stop the bleeding ” of two straight years of nine per cent ratings drops and stabilize to the tune of an average of 15.5 million viewers per telecast.
FOX continues to be the biggest winner, averaging 17.9 million overall and seeing its late Sunday “America’s Game of the Week” franchise hit 22.8 million.
The Rams are a big part of the bright picture for the NFL. They are 4-0 after quarterback Jared Goff threw for a personal record 405 yards and five touchdowns in a 38-31 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football on FOX south of the border and TSN here in Canada.
Outside of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball, the Rams are the hottest thing in North American professional sport. Not only are they the class of the league, they are valued at US$3.2 billion by Forbes Magazine. That represents more than double the enterprise value the Rams had in their last season in St. Louis three years ago.
And it’s only a fraction of where the Rams’ valuation will go once their $2.6-billion stadium opens in 2020 and hosts the Super Bowl in 2022.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
Tigermania in golf and some compelling storylines in the NFL overshadowed the last week of Major League Baseball’s season.
Despite some interesting wildcard races, there hasn’t been as much buzz as you’d expect on the eve of the playoffs.
Watch for baseball to have a better week next week with its one-and-done wild-card games and the prospects for a good October in big baseball markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.