Ratings for the PGA Championship were among the lowest in the past three decades.
Final round coverage of the PGA Championship earned a 3.4 final rating and 5.3 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, down 23% in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (4.4, 6.7M) and down 36% in both measures from 2014 (5.3, 8.2M).
The 3.4 rating is tied as the lowest for final round coverage of the event in at least 35 years, matching 2012 and ahead of only 2008 (2.8). Unlike 2012 and 2008, the previous two Olympic years, this year’s coverage did not face head-to-head competition from the Games.
Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s telecast delivered the largest golf audience of the year outside of The Masters — edging the final round of the U.S. Open on FOX in June (5.1M). It also topped a slow weekend in sports television, with no other telecast cracking a 1.3 rating or 1.8 million viewers.
The declines come amidst a broader downturn in PGA Tour ratings. Excluding rainouts, six of the past eight final round PGA windows have declined from last year — as have 11 of the past 16.
On Saturday, rained out third round action pulled a 1.3 and 1.8 million. Last year’s third round window had a 2.8 and 4.2 million.
Shifting to cable, TNT scored 1.4 million for its expanded third and final round coverage on Sunday, down 24% from last year (1.8M) but up 16% from 2014 (1.2M). The network also pulled 1.4 million the previous day (-10%) and 1.3 million on Friday (-35%), completing a clean sweep of declines that began with a 30% drop last Thursday.
