As was the case with the men a week earlier, women’s golf received the “Olympic bump.”
Final round coverage of the Olympic women’s golf tournament delivered 691,000 viewers on Golf Channel Saturday morning, according to Nielsen fast-nationals, the largest cable audience of the year for women’s golf. The previous high was 582,000 for the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship in June.
Keep in mind viewership likely did not include the full seven-hour window.
Including events on broadcast, Sunday’s coverage trailed the final rounds of the U.S. Women’s Open on FOX (1.3M), the non-major Marathon Classic on CBS (1.0M) and the Women’s British Open (858K) and Women’s PGA Championship (829K), both of which aired on NBC.
Unlike the men’s tournament, the conclusion of the women’s golf event was not simulcast on NBC. The broadcast network was originally scheduled to air 90 minutes of coverage, but those plans were dashed when the final tee times were moved up to avoid rain.
Viewership peaked at 924,000 from 12:15-12:30 PM ET, the most-watched quarter-hour of any women’s golf telecast on cable since the 2010 Women’s British Open, which peaked at 1.3 million on ESPN. The 90-minute window from 11:15 AM-12:45 PM averaged 803,000.
On Friday, Golf Channel scored 390,000 viewers for the afternoon portion of its third round coverage — the largest third round audience on cable since the 2013 Solheim Cup (579K).
(Numbers from NBC Sports)
