ORLANDO, Fla., (June 21, 2007) – Golfweek.com’s live video streams from the 2007 NCAA Golf Championships drew more than 462,000 page views during four days of men’s and women’s competition.
Live video from the 18th hole at LPGA International (NCAA Women’s Championship, May 24-25) in Daytona Beach, Fla., and the last hole at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club (NCAA Men’s Championship, June1-2) was accompanied by expert commentary from Golfweek reporters Lance Ringler, Asher Wildman, Ron Balicki, Beth Ann Baldry and Jay Coffin. Video streaming was produced in partnership with the NCAA and made available through NCAAsports.com, Golfstat.com, CSTV.com and the GolfweekTV section of Golfweek.com.
Duke University won its third consecutive NCAA Women’s Championship. Stanford University was the surprise winner of the NCAA Men’s Championship, which flirted with history when Michael Schachner of Duke shot 60 in Round 2. GolfweekTV captured Schachner’s attempt at 59 on the final green.
"Few things in college golf are as exciting in terms of exposure and promoting our sport as the live streaming for the NCAA Championships," said Devon Brouse, director of golf at Purdue University. "The sky is the limit for this and I predict this is the opportunity we all have been looking for to get our sport out to the golfing public. I have had a dozen comments from people who in the last few years had no idea what happened in the NCAA Championships until they read it in a paper after the fact. Good luck with the growth of this and I hope we can count on you to do this at the ’08 Men’s Championship at Purdue."
Mark Hankins, Michigan State men’s coach, called the GolfweekTV coverage "a huge step up for college golf."
"It was great exposure for all the teams and highlighted many of the players that will be competing at the professional level in the next few years.," Hankins said. "This is the start of a new era in collegiate golf. More popularity, more excitement and much more fun for the friends, family and spectators of college golf. The Golfweek crew was extremely knowledgeable, pertinent and fun to listen to. They did a great job and that will translate into more viewers next year."
The video coverage drew 37,137 unique visitors and more than 462,000 page views. The Golfweek team also produced extensive text coverage of all four rounds of each championship on Golfweek.com, plus 12 pages of coverage in the June 2 and June 9 issues of Golfweek magazine.
Golfweek’s multi-media coverage of the NCAA Championships included:
â?¢ Daily recaps in text and video on Golfweek.com
â?¢ Live online scoring provided by GolfStat
â?¢ Live video streaming of Rounds 3 and 4
â?¢ Exclusive interviews of players, coaches
â?¢ï? Daily "Off Campus" video commentary with Lance Ringler
â?¢ Daily feature/human interest-story on Golfweek.com
"The video coverage was an invaluable tool to me in my reporting of both events to the media in the state of Florida and on the official Web site of the Florida State Seminoles," said Chuck Walsh, sports information director at Florida State University. "The insight provided by Lance, Jay and Asher brought the event to Tallahassee when I couldn’t be in Williamsburg or Daytona Beach. The interviews they conducted, the commentary they delivered and the clear video they provided was incredible and very easy to watch. Their enthusiasm and passion for sport of golf was evident – they knew what they were talking about, who they were interviewing and who their target audience was. They had me glued to the computer."
Golfweek’s NCAA Championship coverage (except live video streaming) is still available for viewing on Golfweek.com.
Founded in 1975, Golfweek magazine is the publication preferred by serious golfers. It delivers the most complete news and information about the game, the people and the golf lifestyle, to golf’s most important audience. Golfweek is a part of Turnstile Publishing Company, which is one of the nation’s leading publishing companies, specializing in high-end publications for active and affluent audiences. Turnstile Publishing Co. is the parent corporation of such publications as Golfweek magazine, TurfNet, GLO, Fish & Fly, Art Calendar, TurfNet.com, GLOliving.com, GolfweekHomes.com and Golfweek.com which features golf’s first online television network, GolfweekTV. Turnstile Publishing Co., is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and is also affiliated with Skyhorse Publishing.
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