For the third-straight day, ESPN’s PGA Championship ratings jumped double-digits.
Saturday’s third round coverage of the PGA Championship averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.03 million viewers on ESPN, per Nielsen fast-nationals — the tournament’s largest cable audience since the 2010 final round on TNT (2.26M) and fourth-largest on record.
It was also the tournament’s most-watched third round on cable since 2005. Figures for the primary telecast on CBS were not immediately available.
ESPN’s coverage, which peaked at 2.36 million from 3:15-3:30 PM ET, increased 75% in ratings and 72% in viewership from last year on TNT (0.8, 1.18M) and 17% and 14% respectively from 2018 (1.2, 1.78M). Last year’s PGA Championship took place in May.
This year’s PGA Championship is the first on the West Coast since 1998 and as such is airing in later timeslots than usual. The ESPN window ran from 1-4 PM ET, later than the 11 AM-2 PM windows that were common on TNT.
ESPN’s three-day average of 1.60 million viewers (+30%) is the highest for the PGA Championship on cable since 2010. Viewership is up 49% among adults 18-49 (to 382K).
West Palm Beach, Fla., led all markets on ESPN Saturday with a 3.2 rating, followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg (2.6). Host market the Bay Area tied for third with Indianapolis (2.4). Greensboro, N.C., rounded out the top five (2.2).
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, ESPN PR 8.9]
