The PGA Tour had a third straight mixed weekend on CBS.
Sunday coverage of the PGA Tour event formerly known as the Los Angeles Open earned a 2.0 final rating and 3.0 million viewers on CBS, down 13% in ratings and 16% in viewership from last year (2.3, 3.6M) and down 20% and 19% respectively from 2015 (2.5, 3.7M).
It was the lowest rated and least-watched final round of the tournament since 2014 (1.6, 2.4M).
Ratings and viewership have now declined for the past three final round telecasts, with Pebble Beach down 16% in the former and 13% in the latter and the Phoenix Open down 10% and 6% respectively.
Despite the lower final round numbers, Saturday coverage increased 15% in ratings (from 1.3 to 1.5) and 17% in viewership (from 1.9M to 2.2M), hitting at least a four-year high in the latter. The L.A. Open was the third-straight PGA Tour event to post an increase on Saturday and a decline on Sunday.
While coverage on CBS was mixed, there was no such problem on Golf Channel. The network’s early afternoon coverage pulled a 0.4 (flat) and 607,000 (+28%) on Saturday and a 0.7 (+40%) and 1.0 million (+37%) on Sunday.
UPDATE 4/18: Coverage included second and third round coverage on Saturday and third and final round action on Sunday.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 2.22)
