The Northern Trust Open drew its lowest ratings in at least 14 years.
Final round coverage of the Northern Trust Open drew a 1.7 final rating and 2.5 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, down 49% in ratings and 48% in viewers from last year (3.3, 4.8 mil), and down 32% in ratings from 2008 (2.5).
This ranks as the lowest rated final round of the Northern Trust Open (formerly the Nissan Open) since at least 1996. From 1997-09, Sunday coverage never drew less than a 2.0 rating.
To put the numbers in perspective, final round coverage of the event drew at least a 5.0 rating each year from ’98 to ’01, and at least a 3.0 on four occasions since’ 01.
Third round coverage on Saturday drew a 1.4 final rating and 2.0 million viewers, down 18% in ratings from last year (1.7), and down 26% from ’08 (1.9).
The 1.4 rating is tied as the lowest for Saturday coverage of the event since ’96. The only other time Saturday ratings have dipped as low as a 1.4 was in 2005, when rain delays forced ABC to air first round coverage on Saturday.
Keep in mind that last year’s tournament did not air on Super Bowl weekend. Additionally, the absence of Tiger Woods could not have been much of a factor, as he did not play in the tournament last year.
