As should be no surprise, PGA Championship ratings could not measure up to Phil Mickelson’s historic win last year.
Final round coverage of the PGA Championship averaged a 3.1 rating and 5.27 million viewers on CBS Sunday, down 20% in ratings and 21% in viewership from Mickelson’s win last year (3.9, 6.66M) and the lowest rated final round since 2008 (2.8). In another example of the impact of out-of-home viewing, viewership trailed only Mickelson’s win last year and Tiger Woods’ second-place finish in ’18 (8.47M) as the highest since 2016.
Justin Thomas’ win averaged 9.06 million viewers during the 45-minute playoff, peaking at 9.34 million from 7:15-7:30 PM ET.
Third round action on Saturday averaged a 2.2 and 3.62 million, down 4% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (2.3, 3.85M). Viewership trailed only last year and 2018 as the highest for third round coverage in seven years (2015: 4.23M).
The weekend declines marked a reversal of fortune for the PGA, which opened with its largest first round audience in 20 years and its largest second round audience in 13. Keep in mind Woods was a bigger story in the first two rounds than over the weekend.
Lead-in coverage on ESPN averaged a 0.9 and 1.47 million on Saturday and a 0.7 and 1.08 million on Sunday, the latter outdrawn by ESPN2’s concurrent Formula 1 coverage (1.15M).
For the weekend, Sunday’s final round ranked third among all sportscasts behind a pair of NBA conference final games and ahead of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes (2.9, 5.26M). In no small feat for golf, it trailed only the NBA games as the weekend’s top show across all of television in adults 18-34 (0.55) and ranked fourth behind the NBA and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (0.81) in adults 18-49 (0.76).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 5.24]
