Press Release < back to list
08.22.2006

WEEKEND RATINGS ROAR FOR CBS SPORTS' COVERAGE OF PGA CHAMPIONSHIP AND SOAR FOR CBS NEWS' "60 MINUTES"

Two of World's Most Recognizable Athletes Featured in CBS Sports and CBS News Coverage as Tiger Wins Third PGA Championship and Michael Jordan Highlights "60 MINUTES" 26.7 Million Viewers Tune In to All-or-Part of PGA Championship Final Round Sunday's "60 MINUTES" Rates as Week's No. 1 Primetime Broadcast in Households; 11.496 Million Viewers Watch Ranking it as Third Most-Watched Broadcast of Week CBS Sports' coverage of the 2006 PGA Championship and CBS News' 60 MINUTES saw its ratings roar and soar over the weekend as Tiger Woods won his 12th career major victory at the 2006 PGA Championship and Michael Jordan was featured on 60 MINUTES. "It's not often that you get to program Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan back-to-back," said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. "It couldn't have worked out better for us." CBS Sports' final-round coverage of the 2006 PGA Championship on Sunday, Aug. 20 earned an average preliminary national household rating/share of 7.0/16, up +25% from last year's 5.6/13. The 7.0/16 was the highest rating for the final round of the PGA Championship since 2002's 7.5/18 when Rich Beem defeated Tiger Woods by one stroke. This year's rating/share also was the third highest rating for the final round of the PGA Championship since a 7.5/21 on August 10, 1980 (ABC) when Jack Nicklaus won. CBS Sports' final-round coverage peaked with a rating/share of 8.3/17 between 6:30-7:00 PM, ET. An estimated 26.7 million viewers (Persons 2+) watched all-or-part of the 2006 final round, up +9% from last year's 24.5 million that watched Sunday/Monday's final round. Following CBS Sports' coverage of the PGA Championship on Sunday, CBS News' 60 MINUTES, which was highlighted by Ed Bradley's interview with one of the greatest NBA players of all-time, Michael Jordan, delivered an average national household rating/share of 7.8/15, up +26% from the show's average for the summer (May 29-August 20, 2006) and making it the No. 1 rated primetime broadcast in HH ratings for the week of August 14-20, 2006. It was 60 MINUTES' highest-rated broadcast of the summer and highest-rated broadcast since earning an 8.0/15 on May 14, 2006. Sunday's 60 MINUTES averaged 11.5 million viewers, ranking third for the week behind the results finale of "America's Got Talent" (NBC) on Thursday night (12.048 million) and the talent finale of "America's Got Talent" (NBC) on Wednesday night (11.630 million).