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Final Ratings: U.S. Open Has Record-Low Audience For Kaymer's Runaway Win

NBC earned a 3.0 final rating and 4.6 million viewers for the final round of the U.S. Open last Sunday, which saw Martin Kaymer go wire-to-wire and win by eight strokes. That marks the lowest audience for the final round on record. The previous low for a final round at the U.S. Open was in ’11, when Rory McIlroy won by eight strokes. This year’s rating was down 33% from that ’11 round and viewership was 38% lower. With no drama or marquee players in contention on Sunday, the viewership for the final round was the same as ABC’s Sunday broadcast of France-Honduras from the FIFA World Cup. Sunday’s final round also was down 45% from last year, when Justin Rose held off Phil Mickelson and Jason Day. Meanwhile, ESPN finished with a 0.9 rating and 1.1 million viewers for second round coverage on Friday from 9:00am-3:00pm ET, down compared to similar coverage from Merion last year (1.3 rating, 1.7 million viewers). ESPN’s Thursday coverage drew a 0.9 rating and 1.1 million viewers as well, but there are no comparisons to last year as rain affected the cable net’s coverage.

U.S. OPEN FINAL ROUND AUDIENCE TREND ON NBC
YEAR
COURSE
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
WINNER
TIGER
'14
Pinehurst
3.0
4,600
Martin Kaymer
DNP
'13
Merion
5.4
8,400
Justin Rose
T32
'12*
Olympic (SF)
6.0
9,600
Webb Simpson
T21
'11
Congressional
4.5
7,369
Rory McIlroy
DNP
'10*
Pebble Beach
5.8
9,266
Graeme McDowell
T4
'09**
Bethpage
4.7
7,073
Lucas Glover
T6
'08*^
Torrey Pines
7.5
12,080
Tiger Woods
1
'07
Oakmont
6.4
9,547
Angel Cabrera
T2

       

CHART NOTES: * = Tournament held on West Coast with late primetime finish. ** = Final round began Sunday evening until play was suspended. Finished on Monday morning. ^ = Tournament finished on Monday with 18-hole playoff and one-hole sudden death.

WHAT’S UP DOC? Some one-off sports documentaries have recently aired. NBC averaged 800,000 viewers for “Payne” on June 8 from 5:00-6:00pm, which focused on the life of late golfer Payne Stewart. The film aired immediately after “Kurt Busch 36,” which drew 917,000 viewers for a 30-minute feature on the driver’s double duty at the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600. “Payne” also premiered on Golf Channel the next night, drawing another 250,000 viewers from 10:00-11:00pm. Meanwhile, NBA TV drew 236,000 viewers for the premiere of “The ’84 Draft” on June 9 from 9:00-10:30pm.

The charts below list final ratings from recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat: Game 5
6/15
ABC
8:00-10:52pm
10.3
17,999
NBA Finals trophy presentation
6/15
ABC
10:52-11:17pm
9.9
17,019
NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat: Game 4
6/12
ABC
9:00-11:43pm
9.3
14,964
NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat: Game 3
6/10
ABC
9:00-11:55pm
9.0
14,775
NHL Stanley Cup Final: Kings-Rangers: Game 5
6/13
NBC
8:13pm-12:47am
3.7
6,021
Golf: U.S. Open: Final Round
6/15
NBC
12:00-7:45pm
3.0
4,600
FIFA World Cup: France-Honduras
6/15
ABC
3:00-5:04pm
2.7
4,597
"NBA Countdown"
6/15
ABC
7:31-8:00pm
2.4
4,221
FIFA World Cup: Switzerland-Ecuador
6/15
ABC
12:00-2:00pm
2.4
4,007
FIFA World Cup: Uruguay-Cost Rica
6/14
ABC
3:00-5:04pm
2.4
3,805
FIFA World Cup: Colombia-Greece
6/14
ABC
12:00-2:03pm
2.3
3,478
Golf: U.S. Open: Third Round
6/14
NBC
12:00-7:45pm
2.3
3,200
MLB: (regional)
6/14
Fox
7:12-11:08pm
1.4
2,210
"Inside: U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil"
6/14
ABC
5:04-5:34pm
1.4
2,110
"Inside: U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil"
6/14
ABC
5:34-6:00pm
1.1
1,678
TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
FIFA World Cup: Argentina-Bosnia & Herzegovina
6/15
ESPN
6:00-8:01pm
2.6
4,677
FIFA World Cup: Italy-England
6/14
ESPN
6:00-8:06pm
2.6
4,615
FIFA World Cup: Brazil-Croatia
6/12
ESPN
4:00-5:59pm
2.8
4,435
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Quicken Loans 500 (Michigan)
6/15
TNT
1:00-4:30pm
2.7
4,254
FIFA World Cup: Ivory Coast-Japan
6/14
ESPN
9:00-11:00pm
2.2
3,675
NHL Stanley Cup Final: Kings-Rangers: Game 4
6/11
NBCSN
8:09-11:03pm
2.0
3,383
FIFA World Cup: Netherlands-Spain
6/13
ESPN
3:00-5:00pm
2.0
3,103
NHL Stanley Cup Final: Kings-Rangers: Game 3
6/9
NBCSN
8:08-10:47pm
1.7
2,893
FIFA World Cup: Chile-Australia
6/13
ESPN2
6:00-8:00pm
1.7
2,779
FIFA World Cup: Mexico-Cameroon
6/13
ESPN2
12:00-2:03pm
1.4
2,123

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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