PGA Championship viewing figures hit 15-year low, says report

The audience for the final day of the 2023 PGA Championship was the lowest the tournament has received on CBS in the last 15 years. This was reflected in a report issued by Sports Business Journal and Sports Media Watch, which was released on Tuesday.

According to the report, the total audience figure was 4.517 million viewers, which represents a 14% decrease from 2022. A year ago, more than 5.2 million viewers watched Justin Thomas defeat Will Zalatoris in a play-off on CBS.

Not since 2008 had the PGA Championship received such low viewership, according to expanded information published by analyst Josh Carpenter. At that time, the second major of the season had to compete for audience with the Beijing Olympic Games.

CBS also recorded a 2.6 rating for the final day of the tournament. This is the lowest rating in at least 42 years.

In general, the four days of the tournament moved in low audience figures compared to previous seasons. It is not a downward trend, but it is a warning sign.

For several seasons, there has been unstable behavior in the PGA Championship total audience figures. This may be due to many factors, mainly with the rest of the events taking place at the same time, which may attract the same audience categories.

For example, this Sunday, an NBA conference finals game on ESPN (which drew 6.5 million viewers) and a Stanley Cup ice hockey playoff game on ABC (which drew 1.6 million viewers) were played in parallel with the final round of the golf major.

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PGA Championship ratings

According to figures from Show Buzz Daily, quoted by the report, viewership details for the PGA Championship by CBS topped out at 3.2 million on Saturday. This figure was also down from 2022.

The event was also broadcast on ESPN, which had a lower reach and was also down in viewership levels from last season.

Champion Brooks Koepka and T15 Michael Block attracted the largest audience at the 2023 PGA Championship. (Image via Getty).

An average of 1.07 million watched the event on ESPN on Thursday (2022: 1.46 million), while on Friday, it was 1.37 million (2022: 2.1 million). For the weekend, ESPN's figures were 1.18 million on Saturday (2022: 1.46 million) and 1.11 million on Sunday (2022: 1.08 million).

Naturally, the rating peaks were related to the most remarkable performances. The segment in which Michael Block secured the T15th place and a spot in the tournament next season reached 6.67 million viewers, the highest figure of the weekend.