Some 6.86 million viewers watched the live pooled coverage of Tiger Woods's apology on seven cable channels last week, according to figures released by Nielsen Research on Monday. Fox News Channel drew the most viewers, 2.07 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 1.71 million. CNN was a distant third with 894,000, followed by the Golf Channel with 741,000. In addition, the pool coverage was available on a number of websites, including YouTube, which aired it in 720p high definition. The Associated Press observed today (Tuesday) that 4.6 million viewers on average tuned in to golf tournaments in which Woods played and that number halved when he was out following knee surgery. However sports consultant Neal Pilson observed that a significant portion of Woods's audience is not the traditional audience that tunes into golf coverage and is therefore "not what many advertisers are looking for." Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports, added, "If Tiger's in an event, you expect a 50 percent increase in ratings. You don't necessarily negotiate a 50 percent increase in the advertising rate."

23/02/2010