Though final round ratings were by far the lowest in history, the rest of the British Open did not do too badly on ESPN.
Third round coverage of the British Open drew a 2.3 U.S. rating and 3.128 million viewers on ESPN last Saturday, down 4% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year on ABC (2.4, 3.317 mil), down 4% and 8%, respectively, from 2008 (2.4, 3.387 mil), and the lowest rated third round since ’99 — when ESPN aired coverage due to breaking news on ABC.
Excluding ’99, the 2.3 rating is the lowest for third round coverage since ’88.
That said, the declines for Saturday’s coverage were fairly minimal — at least compared to the 45% drop for Sunday’s final round. In fact, third round coverage drew a higher rating and more viewers than the final round (2.1, 2.967 mil).
Meanwhile, second round coverage last Friday drew a 1.3 U.S. rating and 1.726 million viewers on ESPN, up 8% and 9%, respectively, from last year’s coverage on TNT (1.2, 1.586 mil), and ratings for Thursday’s first round action were even.
Over on ABC, taped coverage of the final round drew a 1.2 final rating and 1.732 million viewers on Sunday, while abbreviated third round coverage on Saturday drew a 1.0 and 1.396 million. Both tape delayed telecasts outdrew coverage of the American Century Championship on NBC at the same time.
