2012 PGA Tour Numbers Game (Ratings and Viewership For Every Tournament)

2012 was a red hot year for professional golf, at least compared to the last two seasons.

Of the 70 PGA Tour telecasts on CBS, NBC and ESPN, a whopping 50* had increases in ratings compared to the previous edition of the tournament. Furthermore, 42 telecasts were up double-digits, and 23 increased by at least 50%.

Fifteen telecasts attracted at least 3% of U.S. television households, matching the combined total of the previous two years.

The top golf telecast of the year was, unsurprisingly, the final round of The Masters (8.0, 13.487M). With that said, all four major telecasts on CBS (third and final round coverage of The Masters and the PGA Championship) had double-digit declines.

On the flip side, the lowest rated telecast of the year was the third round of the RBC Canadian Open, which earned a 0.6 opposite the first full day of the Olympics.

The year ended on a strong note, as nine of the final ten telecasts (the FedEx Cup tournaments and the Ryder Cup) had increases of over 50% compared to last year. The only exception was still up by more than 40%.

Ratings For Every Weekend PGA Tour Telecast This Season

Date	Event	Round	Net	2012	2011	vs. ’11	2010	vs. ’10
Sat., 1/28/12	Farmers Insurance Open	Third	CBS	1.0	2.0	-50%	1.5	-33%
Sun., 1/29/12	Farmers Insurance Open	Final	CBS	1.8	3.5	-49%	2.2	-18%
Sat., 2/4/12	Phoenix Open	Third	CBS	1.3	1.7	-24%	N/A
Sun., 2/5/12	Phoenix Open	Final	CBS	2.0	1.8	+11%	N/A
Sat., 2/11/12	Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	Third	CBS	2.6	1.6	+63%	1.2	+117%
Sun., 2/12/12	Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	Final	CBS	4.9	2.3	+113%	1.6	+206%
Sat., 2/18/12	Northern Trust Open	Third	CBS	2.1	N/A		1.4	+50%
Sun., 2/19/12	Northern Trust Open	Final	CBS	4.2	2.3	+83%	1.7	+147%
Sat., 2/25/12	Accenture Match Play Championship	Third	NBC	1.3	1.7	-24%	0.8	+63%
Sun., 2/26/12	Accenture Match Play Championship	Final	NBC	2.3	1.7	+35%	2.1	+10%
Sat., 3/3/12	Honda Classic	Third	NBC	1.7	1.5	+13%	1.2	+42%
Sun., 3/4/12	Honda Classic	Final	NBC	2.8	1.7	+65%	1.6	+75%
Sat., 3/10/12	Cadillac Championship	Third	NBC	2.0	1.4	+43%	1.3	+54%
Sun., 3/11/12	Cadillac Championship	Final	NBC	2.8	2.3	+22%	1.9	+47%
Sat., 3/17/12	Transitions Championship	Third	NBC	1.1	1.0	+10%	1.0	+10%
Sun., 3/18/12	Transitions Championship	Final	NBC	1.8	1.4	+29%	1.7	+6%
Sat., 3/24/12	Arnold Palmer Invitational	Third	NBC	2.7	1.8	+50%	1.3	+108%
Sun., 3/25/12	Arnold Palmer Invitational	Final	NBC	4.3	1.9	+126%	1.5	+187%
Sat., 3/31/12	Shell Houston Open	Third	NBC	1.9	1.5	+27%	1.2	+58%
Sun., 4/1/12	Shell Houston Open	Final	NBC	2.4	2.4	even	2.0	+20%
Sat., 4/7/12	The Masters	Third	CBS	5.0	6.5	-23%	6.7	-25%
Sun., 4/8/12	The Masters	Final	CBS	8.0	9.5	-16%	10.7	-25%
Sat., 4/14/12	RBC Heritage	Third	CBS	1.2	1.1	+9%	1.0	+20%
Sun., 4/15/12	RBC Heritage	Final	CBS	1.6	1.9	-16%	1.9	-16%
Sat., 4/21/12	Texas Open	Third	CBS	1.0	0.9	+11%	0.8	+25%
Sun., 4/22/12	Texas Open	Final	CBS	1.4	1.2	+17%	1.3	+8%
Sat., 4/28/12	Zurich Classic of New Orleans	Third	CBS	1.2	1.1	+9%	1.1	+9%
Sun., 4/29/12	Zurich Classic of New Orleans	Final	CBS	2.0	1.9	+5%	1.3	+54%
Sat., 5/5/12	Quail Hollow Championship	Third	CBS	1.3	1.2	+8%	1.3	even
Sun., 5/6/12	Quail Hollow Championship	Final	CBS	2.3	1.8	+28%	2.2	+5%
Sat., 5/12/12	The Players Championship	Third	NBC	2.3	1.4	+64%	2.3	even
Sun., 5/13/12	The Players Championship	Final	NBC	3.2	3.1	+3%	3.0	+7%
Sat., 5/19/12	Byron Nelson Invitational	Third	CBS	1.1	1.1	even	0.9	+22%
Sun., 5/20/12	Byron Nelson Invitational	Final	CBS	1.9	1.4	+36%	1.5	+27%
Sat., 5/26/12	Crowne Plaza Invitational	Third	CBS	1.2	1.1	+9%	0.8	+50%
Sun., 5/27/12	Crowne Plaza Invitational	Final	CBS	1.7	1.9	-11%	0.9	+89%
Sat., 6/2/12	The Memorial	Third	CBS	2.4	1.4	+71%	1.6	+50%
Sun., 6/3/12	The Memorial	Final	CBS	3.5	1.3	+169%	2.8	+25%
Sat., 6/9/12	St. Jude Classic	Third	CBS	1.2	1.0	+20%	1.0	+20%
Sun., 6/10/12	St. Jude Classic	Final	CBS	1.7	1.8	-6%	1.7	even
Sat., 6/16/12	U.S. Open	Third	NBC	5.0	3.1	+61%	3.7	+35%
Sun., 6/17/12	U.S. Open	Final	NBC	6.0	4.5	+33%	5.8	+3%
Sat., 6/23/12	Travelers Championship	Third	CBS	1.1	1.1	even	0.8	+38%
Sun., 6/24/12	Travelers Championship	Final	CBS	1.6	1.3	+23%	1.7	-6%
Sat., 6/30/12	AT&T National	Third	CBS	2.2	1.1	+100%	1.3	+69%
Sun., 7/1/12	AT&T National	Final	CBS	4.4	1.5	+193%	1.8	+144%
Sat., 7/7/12	The Greenbrier Classic	Third	CBS	1.4	0.9	+56%	1.0	+40%
Sun., 7/8/12	The Greenbrier Classic	Final	CBS	2.2	1.3	+69%	1.2	+83%
Sat., 7/14/12	John Deere Classic	Third	CBS	1.2	1.1	+9%	1.0	+20%
Sun., 7/15/12	John Deere Classic	Final	CBS	2.2	1.6	+38%	1.2	+83%
Sat., 7/21/12	British Open	Third	ESPN	2.6	1.8	+44%	2.3	+13%
Sun., 7/22/12	British Open	Final	ESPN	3.1	2.3	+35%	2.1	+48%
Sat., 7/28/12	RBC Canadian Open	Third	CBS	0.6	1.0	-40%	0.8	-25%
Sun., 7/29/12	RBC Canadian Open	Final	CBS	0.8	1.8	-56%	1.2	-33%
Sat., 8/4/12	Bridgestone Invitational	Third	CBS	0.9	1.9	-53%	1.4	-36%
Sun., 8/5/12	Bridgestone Invitational	Final	CBS	1.3	2.6	-50%	2.1	-38%
Sat., 8/11/12	PGA Championship	Third	CBS	2.0	2.3	-13%	2.8	-29%
Sun., 8/12/12	PGA Championship	Final	CBS	3.4	4.1	-17%	4.3	-21%
Sat., 8/18/12	Wyndham Championship	Third	CBS	1.2	1.1	+9%	1.0	+20%
Sun.., 8/19/12	Wyndham Championship	Final	CBS	1.1	1.6	-31%	1.4	-21%
Fed Ex Cup
Sat., 8/25/12	The Barclays	Third	CBS	1.9	1.1	+73%	1.7	+12%
Sun., 8/26/12	The Barclays	Final	CBS	2.5	0.7	+257%	2.1	+19%
Sun., 9/2/12	Deutsche Bank Championship	Third	NBC	2.4	1.4	+71%	1.5	+60%
Mon., 9/3/12	Deutsche Bank Championship	Final	NBC	3.3	1.8	+83%	1.9	+74%
Sat., 9/8/12	BMW Championship	Third	NBC	1.6	0.7	+129%	1.1	+45%
Sun., 9/9/12	BMW Championship	Final	NBC	2.5	0.9	+178%	1.3	+92%
Sat., 9/22/12	Tour Championship	Third	NBC	2.0	1.0	+100%	0.9	+122%
Sun., 9/23/12	Tour Championship	Final	NBC	2.0	1.4	+43%	1.0	+100%
Ryder Cup
Sat., 9/29/12	Ryder Cup	Third	NBC	3.0	N/A		1.8	+67%
Sun., 9/30/12	Ryder Cup	Final	NBC	3.8	N/A		2.1	+81%

* Excludes the third round of the Northern Trust Open, as no comparison was available to the most recent edition of the tournament.

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 2

Pink Panther says:

14 years ago

As usual, the three Sundays when Tiger won the tournament have the highest TV ratings.
Pink Panther says:

14 years ago

Usual humongous ratings for all Sundays when Tiger won the three tournaments this year! The Needle will be back even more in 2013!