The British Open got off to a rough start on Golf Channel. In other news, final round coverage of the Scottish Open sank last weekend, and the F1 British Grand Prix posted a big increase.
British Open Starts Poorly
- Not including the overnight hours, first round coverage of the British Open earned 693,000 viewers on Golf Channel Thursday morning — down 15% from last year (818K) and down 42% from 2015 on ESPN (1.2M). It was the smallest opening round audience for the tournament since at least 2011.
Scottish Open Also Down
- Final round coverage of the European Tour Scottish Open had a 0.6 final rating and 846,000 viewers on NBC last Sunday, down a tick in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (0.7, 1.0M) and down a third and 28% respectively from 2015 (0.9, 1.2M). It was the lowest rated and least-watched final round of the tournament since it moved to NBC in 2013, but ranked third out of the eight golf windows on broadcast last weekend. Third round coverage last Saturday had 756,000 viewers, actually up 5% from last year (722K) but down 5% from 2015 (792K).
F1 British GP Up Big
- Last Sunday’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix had 452,000 viewers on CNBC, up 40% from last year (322K) and up 14% from 2015 (397K). Despite the increase, it trailed the same day’s inaugural Formula E New York GP, which aired on the FOX broadcast network (477K).
