2016 PGA Ratings Down, Still Second Largest Golf Audience

In the good news/bad news files, the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol was the lowest non-Olympic influenced rating in at least 35 years, but the 3.4/5.3 million viewer total made it the second largest golf audience of the year, edging the U.S. Open on Fox.

From Paulsen's Sports Media Watch report:

The 3.4 rating is tied as the lowest for final round coverage of the event in at least 35 years, matching 2012 and ahead of only 2008 (2.8). Unlike 2012 and 2008, the previous two Olympic years, this year’s coverage did not face head-to-head competition from the Games.

Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s telecast delivered the largest golf audience of the year outside of The Masters — edging the final round of the U.S. Open on FOX in June (5.1M). I

TNT's numbers were down across the board:

Shifting to cable, TNT scored 1.4 million for its expanded third and final round coverage on Sunday, down 24% from last year (1.8M) but up 16% from 2014 (1.2M). The network also pulled 1.4 million the previous day (-10%) and 1.3 million on Friday (-35%), completing a clean sweep of declines that began with a 30% drop last Thursday.

The Ricoh British Women's Open did better than expected considering it was up against PGA re-start play, reports Paulsen.