Television ratings for professional golf on broadcast television continued to slump last week.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Honda Classic earned a 2.0 final rating and 2.8 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, down 29% in ratings and 31% in viewership from last year (2.8, 4.1M), but up 18% and 13%, respectively, from 2011 (1.7, 2.5M).
Though down from last year, the 2.0 is the second-highest for any round of the tournament since the final round in 2008 (2.1). With that said, the 2.0 is also the fourth-lowest for final round coverage of the event since at least 1996 (ratings prior to 1997 were not available).
Saturday’s third round action drew a 1.6 and 2.2 million — down 6% in ratings and 7% in viewership from last year (1.7, 2.3M), but up 7% and 3%, respectively, from 2011 (1.5, 2.1M).
Entering this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship, seven of the last eight PGA Tour telecasts on broadcast TV have had declines in final ratings compared to last year. With Tiger Woods leading this week’s tournament entering the final round, that streak should come to an end.
(Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
