A slight dip for the PGA Tour season finale. Plus: US Open viewership is up from last year but down dramatically from 2019; the Solheim Cup was no match for its last U.S. edition; and more.
Tour Championship dips slightly, continuing recent downturn for PGA
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship averaged a 2.3 rating and 3.97 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, down a tick in ratings and 1% in viewership from last year’s Labor Day finish (2.4, 4.01M). Compared to 2019, ratings fell 8% (from 2.5) but viewership increased 7% (from 3.71M).
Figures do not include the first 90 minutes of NBC’s coverage, which was measured as a separate program (1.4, 2.28M).
Third round coverage the previous day had a 1.1 and 1.86 million, down 40% in ratings and 42% in viewership from last year’s Sunday coverage (1.9, 3.18M). Compared to Saturday coverage in 2019, ratings fell a tick but viewership jumped 9% (from 1.70M).
Dating back to the start of July, 16 of 18 PGA Tour windows on broadcast television declined from the last comparable year.
US Open viewership up from last year, still way short of 2019
Coverage of tennis’ US Open averaged 689,000 viewers across ESPN’s networks through Wednesday night, up 12% from last year, when coverage had to contend with unprecedented NBA and NHL playoff competition, but still down a whopping 41% from the same point in 2019 (1.16M). Keep in mind this year’s tournament is lacking Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Wednesday’s primetime coverage of the quarterfinals averaged a tournament-high 1.16 million, up 88% from last year on ESPN2 (618K) — which aired opposite NBA playoff games on ESPN — but down 32% from 2019 on ESPN (1.72M).
Solheim Cup down from last U.S. edition
NBC coverage of the Solheim Cup averaged a 0.41 rating and 634,000 viewers on Saturday and a 0.59 and 878,000 on Sunday, both down from the network’s coverage back in 2017, the last time the event was held in the U.S. (0.7, 968K; 0.6, 946K). Keep in mind that NBC aired first and second-day coverage this year and second and third-day coverage in 2017. NBC did not air any live coverage of the previous Solheim Cup in 2019, which took place in Europe and aired in the overnight hours.
Monday’s final round averaged 588,000 viewers on Golf Channel, down 26% from Sunday coverage in ’17 (795K).
Plus: BIG3, Hard Knocks, Paralympics, USMNT
Last Saturday’s BIG3 Championship Game averaged a 0.26 rating and 409,000 viewers on CBS, down a sharp 46% in ratings and 39% in viewership from the last time it was played in 2019 (0.48, 674K). … The season finale of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” averaged 298,000 viewers Tuesday night, up 18% from last year (253K) but still down 51% from 2019 (605K). The most-watched episode this season, on August 24, had 328,000. … Coverage of the Paralympics averaged 1.2 million on NBC, including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen — up 81% from 2016, when the network aired only one window (640K). NBCSN chipped in 180,000 for its primetime coverage, up 27% from ’16 (143K). … Last Sunday’s United States-Canada World Cup qualifier averaged a 0.39 and 776,000 on FS1, the most-watched USMNT World Cup qualifier on English-language TV since 2017, when a match against Costa Rica drew 1.07 million on ESPN. Keep in mind the intervening matches have aired on lesser networks.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 9.8]
