Golf Channel holed its most-watched April, thanks in part to a big hand from "The King."
Arnie, the channel's three-part documentary on the life of golf great Arnold Palmer, provided a 29% boost in primetime viewership year over year, with an average 471,000 viewers per episode, and its total-day viewership average of 130,000 was up 2% over April 2013. The uptick followed three years of double-digit increases.
Golf pointed out that increase came despite The Masters absence of Tiger Woods, who is usually a big draw for the prestigious tourney. Still, Golf's coverage around Augusta National during Masters week -- it doesn't hold tournament rights -- ranked as channel's most-watched week of the month.
GolfChannel.com's gains were even more impressive, though final traffic numbers are not in yet. According to preliminary figures through April 28, April page views were already up 53%, unique visitors ahead 39%, and video starts grew 30%.
