Weather-impacted U.S. Open spells viewership decline for NBC

A rain-filled Sunday at Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh contributed to a slight final round viewership decline for NBC.

According to Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal, NBC averaged 5.4 million viewers for the final round of JJ Spaun’s U.S. Open win. That window excludes the weather delay, which happened as the tournament leaders were finishing up their front nine mid-afternoon on Sunday. The delay lasted over an hour, pushing the finish back until nearly 8 p.m. ET.

NBC draws 5.4M viewers for JJ Spaun’s win in the @usopengolf on Sunday (excluding the weather delay). That’s down from 5.9M last year (DeChambeau). Peaked at 9.0M as Spaun finished up.

Viewership was up 6% before the delay.

Here’s the audience trend going back to 2015. pic.twitter.com/MkfXm03sew

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) June 17, 2025

Sunday’s final round was down 8% versus last year’s thrilling U.S. Open finish which featured Bryson DeChambeau edging Rory McIlroy at Pinehurst (5.9 million viewers). Prior to the weather delay, viewership was trending up by 6% year-over-year.

This year’s final round viewership was in line with Matt Fitzpatrick’s win at Brookline in 2022, which averaged 5.41 million viewers. The last time the U.S. Open was contested at Oakmont in 2016, 5.39 million viewers tuned in for Dustin Johnson’s win.

Overall, the U.S. Open averaged 2.9 million viewers across NBC and USA Network, per Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. That trails only last year’s tournament as the most-watched East Coast U.S. Open since 2013. (West Coast tournaments typically rate higher, as the rounds conclude in the primetime hours on the East Coast.)

It should be noted, as with all sporting events post-February 2025, this is the first U.S. Open to include Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home viewership measurement. Given that the final round of the U.S. Open is played on Father’s Day, and holidays are typically popular out-of-home viewing days, one could reasonably surmise that this year’s final round would be the least-watched since at least 2018, when Brooks Koepka won at Shinnecock Hills (5.09 million viewers), all things being equal.

Nevertheless, NBC’s telecast finished strong, despite likely losing some viewership due to the delay. The network’s audience peaked at 9.0 million viewers as Spaun rolled in his incredible putt to win on 18.