The PGA Tour’s viewership bounce back has continued through the early part of its season, but the data doesn’t look so good when comparing to the 2023 season.
While each of the Tour’s last nine events (six on NBC, three on CBS) have seen year-over-year increases in final round viewership, the positive trend goes away completely when looking at data from just one year earlier.
Wednesday, NBC Sports published a rather positive outlook on PGA Tour viewership by comparing figures to last year.
NBC Sports’ @PGATOUR coverage has delivered six consecutive weekends of viewership gains on NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports Digital properties.
Five of six Sunday final rounds posted double-digit percentage viewership gains, averaging 2.7 million viewers for those Sunday broadcasts. pic.twitter.com/PsUoDPrgRu
— Golf Channel PR (@GolfChannelPR) April 2, 2025
The past six weeks on Tour, five tournaments have seen double-digit viewership increases versus 2024 according to NBC Sports’ total audience delivery metric. (It should be noted, NBC’s figures above include both linear television viewing and Peacock’s streaming audience.)
While this year’s ratings data has proven largely positive for the Tour, part of that is a function of last year’s weak viewership early in the season. The start of the 2024 PGA Tour season was marred by weather-impacted rounds that hurt viewership, making comparisons with this season’s data look favorable.
If one looks at data from the 2023 season, the PGA Tour still has significant ground to make up. Overall, 10 of the PGA Tour’s 13 final round broadcasts so far this season have seen a decline in viewership versus 2023, with one event (The Genesis) functionally flat. The two examples of growth are last week’s Houston Open and Rory McIlroy’s win at Pebble Beach in February.
That’s not exactly a concern for the Tour, but it gives some perspective to this year’s ratings rebound. While it’s headed back in the right direction from a viewership standpoint, it hasn’t yet eclipsed its own baseline from just two years ago.
So while this year’s ratings have been a nice story so far for the Tour and its broadcast partners, let’s all temper our expectations a bit about the magnitude of its success.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.