FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 4th, 2018

NBCSN DELIVERS BEST QUARTER IN NETWORK HISTORY, HIGHLIGHTED BY 2018 PYEONGCHANG OLYMPICS

Golf Channel Posts Its Most-Watched Quarter Ever & Ranks First in Total Day Viewership among All Single-Sport Networks

NBCSN Has Its Best-Ever First Quarter in Primetime

STAMFORD, Conn. – April 4, 2018 – Buoyed by record viewership for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, NBCSN posted the best quarterly performance in its history in Total Day (6 a.m.-6 a.m.) viewership, according to live plus same day data for the quarter (January 1-April 1) released by Nielsen. NBCSN programming in the quarter also featured extensive PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic coverage, live Premier League and NHL games and accompanying studio shows, a Super Bowl post-game show, rugby, track & field, and college hockey and basketball.

In addition, NBC Sports Group’s Golf Channel posted the network’s most-watched quarter ever. PGA TOUR coverage was up 41% on Golf Channel in the quarter. Golf Channel is carrying significant momentum into the highly anticipated Masters with its comprehensive new coverage, Golf Central Live From the Masters, all this week.

NBCSN & Golf Channel highlights:

 

  • For the first quarter, NBCSN averaged a record 302,000 Total Day viewers – more than tripling last year (92,000), and exceeding the prior record-setting quarter (296,000 for the Rio Olympics-highlighted third quarter of 2016). In addition, NBCSN viewership topped by 40% the first quarter of 2014 (215,000), which featured the Sochi Olympics.

 

  • NBCSN delivered its best-ever first-quarter primetime viewership with an average of 569,000 viewers – more than doubling last year (224,000).

 

  • NBCSN was the #2 sports cable network in Total Day and primetime viewership for the first quarter.

 

  • Golf Channel posted its most-watched quarter on record drawing 133,000 average viewers in Total Day, up 21% vs. 2017 and up 6% vs. first quarter 2013, driven by March becoming the network’s most-watched month ever (155,000 average viewers, up 34% from last March, and up 10% from February 2012, which was the network’s prior best month).

 

  • Golf Channel’s Total Day viewership in the quarter was #1 among all single-sport networks.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

 

  • In February, NBCSN posted the network’s record monthly audiences in Total Day (753,000 viewers) and primetime (average of 1.27 million viewers), and ranked as the #1 sports cable network in both metrics for the month (Jan. 29-Feb. 25). It was the first time NBCSN ranked #1 in a month since August 2016.

 

  • NBCSN also delivered its most-watched January (Total Day) on record in 2018.

 

  • In the quarter, NBCSN posted its three most-watched days on record (Feb. 10, Feb. 11, and Feb. 17), as well as its nine most-watched weekdays on record.

 

  • NBCSN’s Pittsburgh-Philadelphia NHL game on Wednesday, March 7 averaged 652,000 viewers – marking the network’s most watched NHL game since Opening Night.

NBCSN, the home of hockey in the U.S., begins coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs next Wednesday, April 11. 

–NBC SPORTS GROUP-