NBC’s U.S. Open Final Round Coverage Down From Last Year; Still Respectable

NBC Sports Group has reason to smile over its U.S. Open coverage, in particular the final round in which Justin Rose overtook Phil Mickelson. An average 8.4 million viewers watched the final round of the U.S. Open from Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia making it the most-watched East Coast final round of the tournament in six years. However, that’s down from last year’s U.S. Open which had 9.6 million viewers and was held at the Olympic Club in San Francisco and aired mostly in primetime.

This year’s final round saw a 5.4 rating, down from last year’s 6.0. For Saturday, the third round received a 3.7 rating and averaged 5.4 million viewers. Last year’s third round received a 5.0 rating and 7.6 million viewers. Again, last year’s U.S. Open aired heavily in primetime. In addition, Tiger Woods was in contention for three rounds of last year’s tournament while in 2013, he blew up in the third round and was never a factor during the weekend.

We have NBC’s press release.

MOST-VIEWED EAST COAST U.S. OPEN FOR GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC IN SIX YEARS

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s Final Round Coverage Pulls 8.4 Million Viewers, +14% from last East Coast U.S Open at Congressional Country Club in 2011
Golf Channel’s LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN and MORNING DRIVE Propel Network to 2^nd Most-Watched U.S. Open Week of All-Time
GolfChannel.com Scores Most-Clicked Week Ever for Unique Visitors, Page Views and Video Starts
NBC10 and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia Garner Notable Audiences for Local Coverage

ORLANDO, Fla. (June 20, 2013) – GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s tournament coverage and Golf Channel’s news programming scored record audiences for the USGA’s U.S. Open, America’s National Golf Championship, which was held last week at the historic Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia. GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s weekend tournament coverage was the most-watched East Coast U.S. Open in six years (since 2007 at Oakmont Country Club), while Golf Channel posted the network’s most-watched U.S. Open Week ever for an East Coast event (second most-watched U.S. Open Week of all-time behind last year’s event at The Olympic Club in San Francisco), according to data released today by The Nielsen Company.

“With this year’s U.S. Open, the USGA created a complete test of golf, as well as reintroduced the historic Merion Golf Club to fans worldwide,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group. “Our marketing and promotional teams, combined with Tommy Roy and our exceptional production team, throughout the week on Golf Channel and NBC gave fans a great viewing experience of our national championship.”

NBC Sports Group’s comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Open was highlighted by:

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC Weekend Coverage:

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s final round coverage on Sunday delivered 8.4 million average viewers(5.4 rating), making it the best East Coast final round at the U.S. Open since 2007 at Oakmont Country Club and +14% more than 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club (4.5).

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s final round coverage peaked with 13.7 million average viewers (8.4 rating) on Sunday from 7-7:30 p.m. ET.

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s Weekend Coverage delivered 6.8 million average viewers, making it the most-watched East Coast U.S. Open since 2007 at Oakmont Country Club.

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s Weekend Coverage reached 31 million viewers.

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s third round coverage on Saturday delivered 5.4 million average viewers (3.7 rating), which was the best East Coast U.S. Open third round since 2007 at Oakmont Country Club and was +17% over 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club (3.1).

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s early round coverage on Thursday from 3-5 p.m. ET delivered 2.45 million average viewers (1.8 rating). This was +34% more than 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club and was the most-watched Thursday East Coast U.S. Open coverage since 2005 at Pinehurst.

GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC’s early round coverage on Friday from 3-5 p.m. ET delivered 2.79 million average viewers (2.0 rating). This was +52% more than 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club and was the most-watched Friday East Coast U.S. Open coverage since 2009 at Bethpage Black.

Golf Channel LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN Week:

LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN drove Golf Channel to its second most-watched U.S. Open Week of all time, behind last year’s event at The Olympic Club. This also represents the most-watched U.S. Open Week for Golf Channel from any East Coast venue.

Golf Channel reached 9.1 million viewers across last week, +24% vs. 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club.

LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN programming reached more than 7 million total viewers for the week (+15% vs. 2011).

MORNING DRIVE content reached almost 2 million viewers (1.9mil) – setting a new weekly high for the daily morning show in 2013.

LEE TREVINO: AN AMERICAN CHAMPION, which showcased the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, has reached 1.4 million viewers to date with premieres on NBC on Sunday, June 9 and Golf Channel on Monday, June 17, making it the most-viewed Golf Channel-produced documentary in 2013.

GolfChannel.com’s and Golf Channel Mobile’s Coverage of U.S. Open:

GolfChannel.com scored its most-clicked week ever for page views (14.98 million, +56% YOY), unique visitors (2.37 million, +12% YOY), and video starts (2.84 million, +358% YOY).

Golf Channel Mobile scored its second most-clicked week ever for page views (10.17 million, +35% YOY) and unique visitors (440K, +36% YOY).

Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia Coverage of U.S. Open:

Throughout the week, the NBC Sports Regional Networks provided local fans with a robust lineup of news and analysis via Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

CSN Philadelphia’s U.S. Open-dedicated programming generated 3.8 ratings points, which translates to more than 112,000 households within the network’s Philadelphia-area footprint.

NBC10 Coverage of U.S. Open Week for Philadelphia DMA:

NBC10’s weekend coverage of the U.S. Open was #1 for Adults 25-54 and Men 25-54 across all Nielsen LPM markets.

NBC10’s coverage of the U.S. Open was the #1 in the time period for both Thursday and Friday (3-5 PM) among Adults 25-54 and Men 25-54.

NBC10’s TEE OFF AT MERION special on Saturday night following the U.S. Open was the #1 program in the time period among Adults 25-54.