Stardate 20010615.2106 (On Screen): This article explores Tiger Woods' effect on Golf as a televised sport, correctly pointing out how popular he is. I can't say I'm surprised that he makes as much as he does from his endorsement work, and I don't begrudge him one dime of it. And even if he peaks and fades (as eventually do all celebrities in the endorsement business) he's long since independently wealthy and isn't going to be sleeping under a bridge.
I found the chart about TV ratings very interesting. I hadn't known that the ratings for all the major sports had been in such serious decline over the recent past. But there's something they don't mention: historically golf on TV has always had quite poor ratings compared to the other sports (until just recently) and yet it still got top dollar for its advertising. That's because it didn't have the same demographic. Generally, golf attracted a small but extremely affluent audience, one which was particularly attractive to particular advertisers. You can see it just by looking at who advertises on the various sports: you see lots of beer ads, and ads for SUVs, and that kind of thing on football. For golf, you see luxury cars. It's definitely a more upscale set of advertisers. So now that it's surpassed both baseball and basketball in ratings, and given its traditionally desirable viewer demographic, I think you're going to be seeing even more golf being televised. (That despite the fact that it's more expensive to cover, due to the large number of cameras required.) (discuss)
