An unprecedented finish lifted viewership for the National Spelling Bee; the Memorial got off to a much weaker start than last year; the Senior PGA Championship had an Indy 500-fueled bump; the WNBA scored its top opening weekend audience in three years.
Slight bump for Spelling Bee
The finals of the National Spelling Bee, which saw a record eight-way tie for the victory, scored 555,000 viewers on ESPN Thursday night — up 1% from last year (547K), but down 8% from 2017 (605K). Viewership also trailed 2016 (859K) and 2015 (954K).
Big drop for round one of Memorial; Ft. Worth up on CBS
Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Tour Memorial tournament scored 427,000 viewers on Golf Channel, down 31% from last year (621K), but up 6% from 2017. Last year marked Tiger Woods‘ return to the tournament for the first time since 2015. He did not play the event in 2017.
In other action, last Sunday’s final round of the Fort Worth Invitational had a 1.4 (+8%) and 2.06 million (+4%) on CBS, marking the most-watched round of the tournament since Jordan Spieth‘s 2016 win (2.93M).
Third round action had a 1.0 (flat) and 1.49 million (+1%) the previous day. Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel drew a 0.39 (+11%) and 528,000 (-1%) on Saturday and a 0.36 (flat) and 507,000 (-3%) on Sunday.
Senior PGA Championship gets Indy lift
Airing immediately after the Indianapolis 500, last Sunday’s final round of the Senior PGA Championship scored a 0.8 rating and 1.19 million viewers on NBC — up 88% in ratings and 107% in viewership from last year (0.42, 576K), and up 84% and 91% respectively from 2017 (0.43, 623K). There was no notable lead-in in prior years.
Sans the lead-in, the previous day’s third round coverage actually declined, posting a 0.39 (-26%) and 526,000 (-25%).
Airing on ABC, WNBA posts top opening weekend audience since ’16
Last Saturday’s Phoenix-Seattle WNBA regular season game had a 0.33 rating and 452,000 viewers on ABC, the largest opening weekend WNBA audience since 2016 (Phoenix-Minnesota: 505K). Compared to last year’s first ESPN/ABC game, viewership increased 52% from Los Angeles-Minnesota on ESPN2 (297K). Versus the 2017 opener, ratings and viewership increased 43% and 31% respectively from Seattle-Los Angeles on ESPN (0.23, 346K).
