NBC finished with 4.91 million viewers for the Open Championship last Sunday from 9:14am-2:15pm, marking the event’s best final round audience since ABC drew 5.55 million viewers in ’09 for Stewart Cink’s playoff win over Tom Watson. Jordan Spieth’s three-stroke win over Matt Kuchar on Sunday was up slightly (0.2%) from last year, when Henrik Stenson won by three strokes over Phil Mickelson. Similar to last year, the Open Championship final round topped the U.S. Open final round in overnights, but that superlative did not hold when viewership came out. Fox finished with 5.08 million viewers for the final round in June, which saw Brooks Koepka win.
|
OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YR
|
COURSE
|
NET
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
WINNER
|
|
'17
|
Royal Birkdale
|
NBC
|
4,910
|
Jordan Spieth
|
|
'16
|
Royal Troon
|
NBC
|
4,902
|
Henrik Stenson
|
|
'15
|
St. Andrews
|
ESPN
|
2,851
|
Zach Johnson
|
|
'14
|
Royal Liverpool
|
ESPN
|
3,299
|
Rory McIlroy
|
|
'13
|
Muirfield
|
ESPN
|
4,372
|
Phil Mickelson
|
LOW BLOW: Fox drew 2.05 million viewers for its 25th UFC telecast on the broadcast network last weekend, marking the least-viewed July card since Fox acquired rights to the MMA outfit, and third-lowest audience for any telecast yet. The telecast, which featured Chris Weidman’s win over Kevin Gastelum in the main card, was down from 2.98 million viewers for the late July card last year, which featured Valentina Shevchenko-Holly Holm in Fox’ first female-headlined telecast.
The chart below lists final audience figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series: Brickyard 400 (Indy)* |
7/23
|
NBC
|
5:00-9:00pm
|
3.4
|
5,630
|
Golf: Open Championship:
Final Round |
7/23
|
NBC
|
9:14am-2:15pm
|
3.2
|
4,910
|
Shark Week: Michael Phelps
vs. CGI shark |
7/23
|
Discovery
|
8:00-9:06pm
|
2.4
|
4,782
|
Golf: Open Championship:
Third Round |
7/22
|
NBC
|
9:16am-3:00pm
|
2.1
|
3,074
|
| MLB: Cardinals-Cubs |
7/23
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:04pm
|
1.3
|
2,121
|
UFC on Fox 25: Chris Weidman
d. Kevin Gastelum |
7/22
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:35pm
|
1.2
|
2,046
|
Golf: Open Championship:
Final Round (early) |
7/23
|
NBC
|
7:00-9:14am
|
1.3
|
1,765
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
Lilly Diabetes 250 (Indy) |
7/22
|
NBCSN
|
3:55-5:55pm
|
1.1
|
1,686
|
Golf: Open Championship:
Third Round (early) |
7/22
|
NBC
|
7:00-9:15am
|
1.0
|
1,440
|
| UFC on Fox 25: prelims |
7/22
|
Fox
|
6:00-8:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,137
|
| Tour de France: Stage 20 (taped) |
7/22
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.7
|
1,081
|
Monster Energy NASCAR
Cup Series qualifying (Indy) |
7/22
|
NBCSN
|
6:00-7:30pm
|
0.7
|
1,076
|
Golf: Open Championship:
Second Round |
7/21
|
Golf Channel
|
8:00am-4:01pm
|
n/a
|
1,024
|
NHRA: Mopar Mile-High
Nationals (Denver) |
7/23
|
Fox
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
868
|
NBA Summer League:
Trail Blazers-Lakers (Vegas) |
7/17
|
ESPN
|
10:29-11:46pm
|
n/a
|
838
|
| Liga MX: Tigres UANL-Puebla |
7/22
|
Univision
|
7:57-9:58pm
|
0.4
|
769
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Toluca |
7/22
|
Univision
|
9:58pm-12:09am
|
0.4
|
767
|
| World Series of Poker: Final Table |
7/22
|
ESPN
|
9:00pm-3:48am
|
0.5
|
741
|
| World Series of Poker: Final Table |
7/21
|
ESPN
|
9:08pm-1:34am
|
n/a
|
702
|
| Major League Fishing (taped) |
7/22
|
CBS
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.5
|
675
|
"X Games
Minneapolis Anthology" |
7/23
|
ABC
|
1:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
646
|
| Verizon WNBA All-Star Game |
7/22
|
ABC
|
3:30-5:30pm
|
0.4
|
606
|
America's Toughest
Mudder West (taped) |
7/22
|
CBS
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
534
|
| Liga MX: Leon-Atlas |
7/22
|
UniMas
|
7:55-9:54pm
|
0.2
|
413
|
NOTE: * = Two hour weather delay at start.
