Last weekend’s U.S. Open, won by Wyndham Clark at Los Angeles Country Club, was the most-watched in four years, with NBC’s 3.4 million average viewers representing a 27-percent spike from last year’s tournament in Boston.
NBC saw its largest audience between 9:30-9:45 PM ET, with 10.2 million viewers tuning in to see Clark capture his first major over runner-up Rory McIlroy. Per Nielsen, that’s the most-viewed 15-minute window for a golf broadcast since Phil Mickelson put the finishing touches on his PGA Championship triumph in 2021, becoming the oldest player ever to win a major.
According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, NBC benefited from having the event on the West Coast, taking advantage of a primetime audience afforded by later tee times. Overall, this was the most-watched U.S. Open since 2019, when Gary Woodland held on for a three-shot victory over Brooks Koepka at Pebble Beach.
Despite complaints of poor audio stemming from what was either a blimp or planes flying overhead, the U.S. Open was a ratings success, breaking streaming records with 304,000 viewers across all of NBC’s digital platforms including Peacock.
If you’re looking ahead to 2024, next year’s U.S. Open will be staged at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, which previously hosted the event in 1999, 2005 and 2014.
[Sports Media Watch; photo from Michael Madrid/USA TODAY Sports]
