In its first British Open, NBC scored the event’s top rating and viewership since 2009.
Final round coverage of the British Open earned a 3.3 final rating and 4.9 million viewers on NBC Sunday morning, up 38% in ratings and 46% in viewership from last year (2.4, 3.4M) and up 43% and 49%, respectively, from 2014 (2.3, 3.3M). Last year’s coverage aired on a Monday.
The celebrated duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson ranks as the highest rated and most-watched British Open telecast since the 2009 final round on ABC — the last time the tournament aired on a broadcast network (3.8, 5.5M). The previous highs over that span were a 3.1 and 4.4 million.
In a reversal from the overnights, Sunday’s final round trailed that of the U.S. Open on FOX in June (3.4, 5.1M).
Figures do not include early morning coverage. NBC scored a 1.4 and 1.9 million from 7-9 AM ET, up 100% in ratings and 117% in viewership from last year’s comparable window, which ran from 6-8 AM (0.7, 889K).
Saturday’s third round scored a 2.35 rating and 3.3 million viewers, about even in ratings and down 2% in viewership from last year (2.4, 3.4M) but up 96% and 113%, respectively, from coverage in 2014 that was moved up to avoid rain (1.2, 1.6M).
Shifting to Golf Channel, overnight coverage scored 327,000 viewers on Sunday and 357,000 on Saturday. Friday’s second round action had 1.0 million, not including coverage in the early morning (715K) or overnight (320K) hours. Last year’s Friday coverage was mostly rained out.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports TV Ratings [1], [2], [3])
