PGA Championship final round ratings sink to 15-year low

Despite a compelling finish and a win by one of golf’s biggest stars, the final round of the PGA Championship drew disappointing ratings on Sunday.

Brooks Koepka pulled away from Viktor Hovland and a looming Scottie Scheffler on Sunday to finish 9-under and win his fifth career major at Oak Hill in New Jersey this past weekend.

The round averaged 4.52 million viewers and a 2.6 rating for CBS.

These numbers marked a 14 percent decline in viewership and a 16 percent decline in the ratings from last year, which featured a thrilling three-hole playoff between Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris.

According to Sports Media Watch, this year’s PGA Championship viewership was the lowest in 15 years, dating back to 2008 when the major was going head-to-head with the Olympics.

Furthermore, the outlet notes, PGA Tour viewership on broadcast TV networks CBS and NBC has declined year-over-year in nine of the last 10 events.

That being said, as of last month, Sports Business Journal reported that the PGA Tour had slight increases versus 2022 on NBC and CBS, so the numbers look a little better if you go further back.

While it’s unsurprising that this year’s PGA Championship would be down a decent percentage compared to an event that appeared to draw millions of extra casual viewers in for the playoff, any time you get a 15-year low the stakeholders have to be at least a little concerned.

In 2020, Nielsen introduced out-of-home viewership into the immediate count of their metrics. This has seemed to lift other sports’ numbers in spite of networks losing about a quarter of their reach in the last decade as customers have cut the cord on cable and satellite bundles.

The NBA playoffs experienced blockbuster TV ratings in their first two rounds.

However, those numbers are likely to hit a major speed-bump given the sweep by the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, the possible sweep by the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals and an NBA Finals matchup that will not include the Warriors, who are the sport’s biggest draw.