Golf Channel's 2013 Final Numbers: Up For Third Straight Year

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And yet they are going to chuck the logo.

The highlights from Golf Channel's year-end press release:

  • 14% Increase Over 2012 & Golf Channel Averages More Than 100,000 Viewers per Minute in 2013
  • Golf Channel Posts 54% Increase since Joining NBC Sports Group in 2011
  • Golf Channel One of Top Five Sports Networks for 2013, Including Top Three for Nearly a Quarter of the Year
  • Record 19 Events Exceed 5 Million Unique Viewers, Led by 9.3 Million at Farmers Insurance Open

More stuff that caught my eye. The full release is here:


Golf Channel’s record viewership averaged 108,000 viewers per minute in total day for 2013, which places it fifth among sports networks. Additionally, Golf Channel ranked third, behind ESPN and ESPN2, for nearly one quarter of the year (79 days).

Golf Channel is the fastest-growing cable network since 2011 when it became a part of the NBC Sports Group (networks in 80+ million homes).

Additionally, Golf Channel’s viewership saw significant increases in all key demos, including Men 25-54 up 13% YOY (+30% over 3-yr span), Adults 25-54 up 10% YOY (+32% over 3-yr span), Adults 35-64 up 6% YOY (+43% over 3-yr span) and Households up 15% YOY (+55% over 3-yr span).

PGA TOUR’s 2013 FedExCup Season was up 8% YOY (+81% over 3-yr span) and saw a record 19 events break 5 million unique viewers (up from 16 events in 2012), led by the Farmers Insurance Open with 9.3 million unique viewers.

PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs were the second most-watched in its seven-year history with 12.4 million unique viewers watching some or all of the action on Golf Channel.

LPGA Tour continued its surge in momentum with a 14% increase YOY (+46% over 3-yr span), making it the Tour’s second most-watched year ever.

Web.com Tour was up 34% YOY (+70% over 3-yr span), its most-watched year ever.

Champions Tour was up 17% YOY (+18% over 3-yr span), its most-watched year ever.

European Tour was up 1% YOY (+26% over 3-yr span), its most-watched year ever.

Morning Drive up 26% YOY (+169% over 3-yr span, 2010 timeslot).

Golf Central up 17% YOY (+98% over 3-yr span).

Golf Central’s Live From coverage up 17% YOY (+30% over 3-yr span), including most-watched Masters Week, The Players Week, PGA Championship Week, U.S. Open Week from an East Coast venue and Open Championship Week since event was moved to cable in 2010.

Instructional programming up 14% YOY (+33% over 3-yr span), posting its most-watched year ever.
Original Series (Feherty, In Play with Jimmy Roberts, Big Break) up 2% YOY (+18% over 3-yr span), contributing to Golf Channel’s Monday primetime delivering its most-watched year ever.

GolfChannel.com unique users were up 32% YOY, along with page views (45%) and video starts (25%).

GolfChannel.com delivered more than 3 million uniques for the first time ever in March and continued that streak for six consecutive months through August.

Golf Channel Mobile unique users grew 49% YOY, driving page views (78%) and video starts (59%) to even larger increases.

Golf Channel Digital scored record weeks during all four of golf’s majors, as well as for THE PLAYERS, FedExCup Playoffs and Presidents Cup.

Golf Live Extra streaming delivered 4.6 million live starts and more than 90 million minutes watched in the authenticated service’s inaugural year.