Ratings slipped, but the final round of the British Open eked out its largest audience in nine years.
Final round coverage of the British Open earned a 3.2 final rating and 4.91 million viewers on NBC Sunday morning, down a tick in ratings but up a fraction of a percent in viewership from last year (3.3, 4.90M), and up third and 46% respectively from 2015, when coverage aired on a Monday on ESPN (2.4, 3.4M).
Jordan Spieth‘s win, which peaked with 7.3 million viewers from 1:15-1:30 PM ET, ranks as the most-watched final round of the tournament since 2009 on ABC (5.5M).
Including the 59,000 who streamed coverage on NBC Sports digital platforms — up 60% from last year (38K) — the final round had 5.0 million viewers, still the highest total since 2009.
Figures do not include NBC’s first two hours of coverage, which pulled a 1.3 (-7%) and 1.8 million (-8%).
Sunday’s telecast earned a higher rating than the final round of the U.S. Open on FOX last month (3.1), marking the first time since at least 1980 that the British Open has topped its U.S. counterpart. Keep in mind the U.S. Open telecasts do not benefit from lopping off the lower rated early hours.
It was not the weekend’s top sporting event, however, trailing the NASCAR Brickyard 400 in ratings (3.4) and viewership (5.6M). In adults 18-49, its 0.9 rating trailed both the NASCAR race (1.1) and the Jamaica-Mexico Gold Cup semifinal on Univision (1.4).
Third round action on Saturday had a 2.1 (-11%) and 3.1 million (-7%), ranking as the lowest rated and least-watched third round of the tournament since 2014 (1.2, 1.6M). Figures do not include the first two hours of coverage, which had a 1.0 (-23%) and 1.4 million (-17%).
Last Friday, second round action had 921,000 on Golf Channel, not including the overnight hours — down 4% from last year (957K).
[Numbers from NBC Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 7.25]
