Overshadowed by Olympic golf, not to mention the rest of the Games, PGA Tour ratings sank on CBS.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour John Deere Classic drew a 0.7 final rating and 1.1 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, down 68% in ratings and 67% in viewership from last year, when Jordan Spieth‘s win tied a 16-year ratings high (2.2, 3.4M), and down 36% and 27%, respectively, from 2014 (1.1, 1.5M).
On the second weekend of the 2012 Olympics, final round coverage of the Bridgestone Invitational posted a 1.3 rating. Of course, there was no Olympic golf that year.
Sunday’s telecast ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched final round on a broadcast network this season, falling below the previous marks of 0.9 and 1.4 million for the Hartford Open one week earlier. Going back further, it was the least-watched final round on broadcast since the 2013 BMW Championship, which posted 1.0 million.
It was also the lowest rated final round of the John Deere Classic since at least 1998, with the caveat that the tournament has not previously faced the Olympics. The previous low was a 1.1 in 2014.
The John Deere Classic actually outdrew Golf Channel’s final round coverage of Olympic golf, which averaged a 0.6 rating and 903,000 viewers across the full nine-hour telecast window (6 AM-3 PM). However, Golf Channel’s three hours of afternoon coverage easily topped the PGA with a 1.0 and 1.6 million, and 90 minutes of simulcast coverage on Golf Channel and NBC topped every PGA event but The Masters with a 5.6 and 8.8 million.
On Saturday, second and third round coverage had a 0.5 and 738,000 — down 58% in ratings and 57% in viewership from last year (1.2, 1.7M) and down 44% and 41%, respectively, from 2014 (0.9, 1.3M).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
