While ESPN enjoyed four-straight days of gains, CBS posted surprisingly modest ratings for the PGA Championship.
Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.15 million viewers on CBS, flat in ratings and up 3% in viewership from last year, when the tournament was played in May (3.3, 5.01M), but down 39% in both measures from Tiger Woods’ second-place finish in 2018 (5.4, 8.46M).
Third round coverage on Saturday averaged a 2.1 (-9%) and 3.28 million (-2%).
The mixed results were a marked departure from the trend of double-digit increases since the PGA Tour resumed play in June. In the eight weeks between the restart and the PGA Championship, viewership on CBS jumped 27% over last year, with 12 out of 16 windows up by double-digits.
The numbers were also a departure from ESPN’s PGA Championship coverage, which increased double-digits on all four days of play. Sunday’s lead-in coverage on ESPN averaged a 1.3 and 1.97 million, up 63% in ratings and 61% in viewership from last year on TNT (0.8, 1.22M) and the tournament’s most-watched final round lead-in since 2010 (2.26M).
Overall, ESPN’s four days of coverage averaged 1.66 million viewers (+35%), the largest average for the PGA Championship on cable since 2010. Each day of coverage hit a multi-year high, with five-year highs last Thursday and Friday and a 15-year high on Saturday.
By contrast, CBS neared lows for its coverage. Sunday’s telecast tied the second-lowest final round rating on broadcast since 2008 (2.8), matching last year and ahead of only 2017 (3.2).
Meanwhile, Saturday’s third round was the lowest rated on broadcast since 2012 (2.0) and least-watched since 2017 (3.21M).
Better numbers could have been expected given the extensive primetime coverage — two hours each on Saturday and Sunday — and the competitive leaderboard. CBS viewership peaked Sunday at 6.87 million from 8:15-8:30 PM ET.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 8.11]
