With the outcome scarcely in doubt all weekend, the British Open posted its smallest final round audience in nearly a decade.
Final round coverage of the British Open averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.35 million on NBC, marking the least-watched final round of the tournament since 2014 on ESPN (3.29M). (Figures are for the main telecast window starting at 9 AM ET and do not include two hours of early morning coverage that averaged a 1.0 and 1.45 million.)
Brian Harman’s comfortable win declined 28% in ratings and 26% in viewership from last year (2.8, 4.55M).
As is usually the case given the early morning timeslots for the event, the British Open averaged fewer final round viewers than the other three golf majors — the Masters (12.06M), US Open (5.92M) and PGA Championship (4.52M). It also trailed the final rounds of non-major tournaments the Heritage (4.15M), Players Championship (4.14M), Phoenix Open (3.67M) and Los Angeles (3.42M).
Third round action on Saturday averaged a 1.6 (-22%) and 2.62 million (-21%), marking the tournament’s smallest third round audience since rainout coverage on ESPN in 2014. (As with the final round, figures are for the main telecast window starting at 9 AM ET and do not include two hours of early morning coverage that averaged a 0.8 and 1.17 million.
Overnight coverage on USA Network averaged a 0.1 and 193,000 on Saturday and a 0.3 and 367,000 on Sunday.
Shifting to the earlier rounds, USA Network averaged a 0.7 and 1.10 million for second round coverage on Friday and a 0.5 and 848,000 for first round action Thursday — both down sharply from last year, when Tiger Woods was in the field (0.9, 1.34M; 0.8, 1.31M). Those figures are for the main telecast windows and do not include overnight or early morning coverage.
For more sports TV ratings, see the weekly chart here.
