HOBE SOUND, Fla., June 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The 2014 United States Open golf tournament, sponsored by the United States Golf Association (USGA), was held at the Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina on June 12-15. Americans For Responsible Advertising Incorporated (AFRA) recorded and analyzed five hours of the NBC television broadcast on the last day of the tournament.
During those five hours there were 122 full-screen and partial-screen commercials which, in total, accounted for approximately 55 minutes (18%) of broadcast time. Another way of looking at it is that 11 minutes of each broadcast hour were devoted to full-screen and partial-screen commercials. What is not counted in any of the above statistics is the annoying omnipresence of the USGA and NBC logos. The USGA logo flashed by at nearly subliminal speeds at the beginning and end of each replay and on all of the leader boards and score cards televised. The NBC peacock in full color was on-screen all the way through each replay and a plain white version of the same peacock was in the lower right corner of the screen for the full 300 minutes analyzed.
The major commercial sponsors of the telecast were Lexus, Charles Schwab and MasterCard. NBC also had a number of full and partial-screen commercials for future programming. The USGA had a number of institutional advertising spots as well as a few spots urging viewers to play golf more often and faster. One of these spots, which will go down as a classic, had Arnold Palmer urging Clint Eastwood to play faster on the beautiful seventh tee at the Pebble Beach course in California. Despite the USGA's best efforts, however, interest in golf in America is declining. The television viewership for this year's US Open, reportedly, was down by almost 50% from last year's. Visit: www.americanresponsibleadvertising.com
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