After a Kentucky Derby-fueled jump on Saturday, overnight ratings for the WGC Match Play Championship fell back to normal on Sunday.
The semifinals and finals of the WGC Match Play Championship earned a 1.8 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, down 10% from last year opposite the Olympics on CBS (2.0) and down a tick from 2013 on NBC (1.9). The 1.8 is tied as the lowest for Sunday coverage of the event since 2010 (1.3), matching 2011.
The 1.8 is tied as the season’s second-lowest Sunday overnight on broadcast, matching the New Orleans Classic the previous week and ahead of only the Texas Open in March (1.5).
The soft performance was the only blight on an otherwise strong weekend. Semifinal coverage on Golf Channel earned a 0.6 overnight earlier Sunday, up 36% from last year (0.45) and a seven-year high.
Saturday’s quarterfinal coverage on NBC, which aired in primetime with a Kentucky Derby lead-in, also hit a seven-year high in the overnights (2.0). According to Nielsen fast-nationals, the telecast finished with a 1.7 rating and 2.6 million viewers — up 31% in ratings and 46% in viewership from last year on CBS (1.3, 1.8M) and up 31% and 38%, respectively, from 2013 (1.3, 1.9M).
The 1.7 rating is tied with 2011 as the highest for third round coverage since 2008 (2.8).
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports, Sports Business Daily)
