Just weeks after record-lows at the U.S. Women’s Open, the Women’s British Open delivered its best numbers in a decade.
Final round coverage of the Women’s British Open earned a 0.8 rating and 1.1 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, up a third in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (0.6, 858K) and up 300% and 211% respectively from 2015 — the last year coverage aired on ESPN2 (0.2, 354K).
I.K. Kim‘s win ranks as the most-watched final round of the tournament since 2006 on ABC (1.6M).
It also ranks as the most-watched women’s golf telecast this year, topping the final rounds of the Women’s PGA Championship on NBC (840K) and the U.S. Women’s Open on FOX (790K) — the first time the tournament has ever topped the charts.
Keep in mind the U.S. Women’s Open had the disadvantage of a longer, five-hour telecast window. Yet even accounting for telecast length, the Women’s British Open came out ahead — averaging 824,000 over the final five hours of coverage on NBC and Golf Channel.
Third round action last Saturday pulled a 0.6 (+36%) and 809,000 (+33%), the tournament’s largest third round audience since 2007 (846K). Shifting to weekday coverage, last Friday’s second round had 188,000 on Golf Channel (+55%) and abbreviated opening round coverage last Thursday drew 93,000 (+50%), with the caveat that last year’s comparable windows started earlier in the morning.
[Numbers from NBC Sports, Nielsen]
