Despite NBA Game 7 competition, PGA Championship viewership increases on CBS

CBS saw a viewership increase for the final round of the 2024 PGA Championship despite going head-to-head with an NBA Game 7 for the first time ever.

Per a release, Sunday’s final round averaged 4.958 million viewers, a solid 10% increase from a year ago.

The increase comes after the round went head-to-head with NBA Playoff competition, a rarity for the tournament. The Pacers’ Game 7 win over the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals averaged 6.45 million viewers. It’s just the second time the PGA Championship’s final round has gone up against the NBA Playoffs, following 2021’s tournament.

However, Xander Schauffele’s win was still on the lower end of PGA Championship final rounds in recent history. While it was up from last year, per Sports Media Watch, it still ranked as the third least-watched PGA final round in the last 12 years, ahead of 2017 and 2023.

The tournament as a whole was up from a year ago. The third round increased by 9% to 3.52 million viewers on CBS Saturday, while ESPN’s coverage was up 5% to 1.12 million on Thursday and up 18% to 1.37 million on Friday in the wake of Scottie Scheffler’s early morning arrest.

The increase in viewership for the PGA Championship comes a month after Scheffler steamrolled the competition in the Masters, leading to a viewership decline and the third least-watched final round of the tournament ever. For all of the handwringing about golf viewership, it seems like a competitive final round might not be the cure-all for those woes, but it certainly helps in the long run.