With rain delaying the start and pushing the finish off to cable, and with national news overshadowing everything else, the PGA Tour did better than one would expect last weekend.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour St. Jude Classic earned a 1.5 final rating and 2.3 million viewers on CBS last Sunday, up a tick in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year (1.4, 2.0M) and flat and up 4%, respectively, from 2014 (1.5, 2.2M).
The first half-hour of the telecast was preempted by a CBS News special report. Play itself was delayed due to rain, with the final round concluding after CBS had already gone off the air. Overflow coverage aired on CNBC (581K) and later NBCSN (521K), as Golf Channel was occupied by coverage of the Women’s PGA Championship.
Under those anomalous circumstances, the year-over-year increase is fairly impressive.
Last Saturday’s third round action delivered a 1.4 and 2.0 million, up 40% in ratings and 39% in viewership from last year (1.0, 1.4M) and up 56% and 57%, respectively, from 2014 (0.9, 1.3M).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily, with additional info from Sports TV Ratings)
