PGA Tour ratings dropped for a fifth straight Sunday, but were not that bad all things considered.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour-WGC Mexico Championship delivered a 2.2 final rating and 3.5 million viewers on NBC Sunday afternoon, down 15% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year (2.6, 4.0M) but flat and up 5% respectively from 2015 (2.2, 3.3M). Prior to this year, the tournament took place at Doral.
Dustin Johnson‘s win, which peaked at a 2.9 and 4.6 million from 5:30-5:45 PM ET, was the fifth straight final round PGA telecast to decline from last year. The past four have dropped by double-digits.
Declines were to be expected given the move from Doral, a popular PGA Tour stop for more than 50 years. Sunday’s telecast held up quite well considering, ranking second for the season behind only the final round at Pebble Beach last month (2.7, 4.2M). Going back further, it was the second-most watched round of golf outside of majors and the Ryder Cup since last year’s Players Championship (2.8, 4.2M).
For the weekend, the final round ranked third among all sports telecasts behind NASCAR on FOX (3.8, 6.6M) and the Duke-North Carolina college basketball game on ESPN (2.4, 4.1M). It topped the Warriors-Knicks NBA game on ABC head-to-head (2.1, 3.3M) though the NBA easily won in adults 18-49 (1.3M to 663K).
Third round action on Saturday had a 1.6 final rating and 2.5 million viewers, down 11% in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year (1.8, 2.5M) but up 7% and 25% respectively from 2015 (1.5, 2.0M). Again excluding majors and the Ryder Cup, it was the second-best third round since last year’s Players.
Including third round play, seven of the past nine PGA Tour windows on broadcast television have declined, six of those by double-digits.
Early afternoon coverage on Golf Channel pulled a 0.55 (-5%) and 814,000 viewers (+3%) on Saturday and a 0.7 (flat) and 1.1 million (+10%) on Sunday.
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports, with additional info from ShowBuzz Daily 3.7)
