The 2020 U.S. Open's Overnight Ratings Are Not Good

Showbuzzydaily.com

The rescheduled 2020 U.S. Open provides a rare, and (hopefully) one-off look into what happens when a major championship moves to the fall against the NFL.

The numbers, courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily.com’s Mitch Metcalf, saw Sunday’s final round earn a 1.99 overnight rating, on par with the better “Return to Golf” events but easily a record U.S. Open low.

The previous benchmark for a U.S. Open final round came in 2014 when Martin Kaymer’s runaway win earned a 3.0 on NBC. However, that event was not going up against top-flight NFL matchups on CBS and Fox, where this year’s tournament was crushed by two dynamite games: Cowboys vs. Falcons and Chiefs vs. Chargers.

Against less competition Saturday, the 8-hour third round telecast averaged a 1.92, or 542,000 viewers in the only age group that purportedly shops.

NBC’s weekday coverage drew more decently, with a 1.33 Thursday and a 1.51 Friday.

Golf Channel’s first-year televising U.S. Open action appears have established record overnight lows which will almost certainly improve in 2021 when the event returns to June and a west coast venue.

Three editions of “Live From” surfaced in the top 150 cable shows, with Sunday’s post-final round edition earning a .03/171,000 viewers.

**Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch offered more on the various all-time lows and percentage declines.

Third round action averaged a 1.9 and 3.04 million, also the lowest on record. The previous lows were a 2.2 (2016 and 2017) and 3.20 million (2014). The telecast declined 32% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year (2.8, 4.20M) and 24% and 19% respectively from 2018 (2.5, 3.77M).

The increase from Saturday’s third round to Sunday’s final round — just 5% — is the smallest on record for the tournament. Last year’s final round increased 57% in ratings and 74% in viewership over the third round.

NBC also averaged a 1.5 and 2.30 million for second round coverage on Friday (both -12%) and a 1.3 (-44%) and 1.96 million (-43%) for opening round action last Thursday. NBC’s weekday windows began in the afternoon, while last year’s comparable FOX telecasts aired mostly in primetime.