TGL TV ratings take significant hit. Here’s what it means
The TGL's week 3 ratings dropped by 32 percent off the first two weeks.
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On Thursday morning, gravity arrived for the TGL.
After two weeks of upward trajectory, the primetime simulator golf league’s TV ratings dropped in week 3, falling to 682,000 average viewers, down some 32 percent from week 2’s high of 1.05 million. The number, by far the lowest faced by the new league in the three weeks since its inception, marks the beginning of the second act of the TGL’s first season — a crucial stretch in which the league will attempt to solidify an audience base after its novelty has worn off.
TGL executives long expected Thursday’s ratings data to show a dropoff. The TGL structured its schedule to maximize interest in the opening two weeks, setting Tiger Woods’ debut in week 2 to build momentum off week 1’s initial intrigue. Those efforts worked even after strong opening week ratings, giving the league a nine percent bump from 919,000 average viewers in week 1 to 1.05 million in week 2. With Woods passing off the spotlight to Justin Thomas’ Atlanta Drive and a Xander Schauffele-less NYGC, a return to earth after two strong weeks of ratings data seemed likely.
Still, Thursday’s news hints at a trend that could develop into a key issue with the TGL format: when the league’s biggest stars aren’t around, interest in the competition among the broader sports world is limited. In many ways, the long-term success of the league depends on getting fans to engage with golfers they do not already know, and not solely with figures like Woods and Rory McIlroy, who have been bonafide stars for years. The TGL’s attempt at this feat will take much longer than three weeks, but the early returns show the format alone isn’t enough to keep notably large audiences tuning in. While Tuesday’s audiences were not objectively “bad,” they weren’t large enough to suggest the format has been an unmitigated success.
Some additional audience data below:
- While 682,000 viewers is a considerable drop off from the first two weeks, it falls roughly in line with ESPN averages for this time of year. That might not be “great” news, but it’s also not devastatingly bad.
- The average age for a TGL broadcast is 51 years old, per Nielsen, some 14 years younger than the average for PGA Tour broadcasts.
- There are two ways of viewing this data in context. The first is that the TGL has significantly dropped the average age of a golf telecast, a major hope for the new league. The second is that the league does not appeal to golf’s traditionally older “core” audience.
- One factor that could be harming the league is scheduling. One of the major challenges facing any new sports property is developing viewer habits, and the TGL will be alternating days, number of matches and timeslots throughout year one. That’s a challenge in building fan “expectation” for the TGL, which could make it hard to develop a new audience. (Think of how fans are conditioned to expect to see NFL games on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. It takes time to deliver that same emotional expectation.)
If you’ve read this column in recent weeks, you know we expressed caution over reading too deeply into early TGL ratings data. Largely, the reason for that caution is that we don’t have enough data to know what “normal” is. The league will need several more competitions before we can confidently speak to ratings success or failure, but the numbers from this week’s telecast serve as an important reminder that significant audience vacillations are normal, if not expected, for a league in its early weeks.
The good news is that the TGL still has an ace in the hole: ESPN will air arguably the biggest match of the season — pitting Tiger Woods’ team against Rory McIlroy’s — in Week 4. You can rest assured we’ll be tuned in then.
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