The PGA Tour finished the 2026 season, which concluded Sunday, with a modest viewership increase over last year, which had brought a significant ratings bump after a big dip in 2024.
Weekend coverage of PGA Tour events in 2026, excluding the four major championships, averaged 2.7 million viewers on CBS and NBC.
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That’s up 1% compared to the 2025 season average when using Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology (2.6 million), and up 17% when compared to Nielsen’s panel-only numbers (2.3 million). Big Data became Nielsen’s standard measurement formula on Sept. 1, 2025, after last year’s PGA Tour season concluded.
In 2024, the PGA Tour’s season-long average for weekend coverage on linear networks was 1.9 million viewers using panel-only measurements, which was standard at the time; that figure is 2.3 million when retroactively applying Big Data.
This season, no PGA Tour player won more than three times (Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup). Scheffler dominated the PGA Tour the previous two seasons with six wins in 2025 and seven in 2024, including three majors (but none this year). Scheffler, the season-long FedExCup champion, did have an additional five runner-up finishes this year.
All four majors saw viewership increases this season, which helped further boost both CBS and NBC’s year-long numbers.
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CBS had its best season since 2009, averaging with 3.43 million viewers, and up +15% (panel-only); that includes the most-watched Masters final round since 2015 with nearly 14 million viewers tuning into Rory McIlroy winning his second consecutive Green Jacket.
NBC averaged 3.2 million viewers when including the majors, which is up 10% compared to 2025 (panel-only).
Meanwhile, Golf Channel averaged 597,000 viewers for its PGA Tour coverage this season, which included early-round coverage on Thursday and Friday afternoons and lead-in coverage to the main network telecasts on the weekends. That’s up 7% compared to 2025 using Big Data.
Figures for ESPN’s weekly streaming coverage of PGA Tour Live, which typically broadcasts morning coverage and featured groups, are not available.
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The PGA Tour’s two flagship events both registered viewership bumps, too. The final round of the Players Championship in March averaged 4.4 million viewers on NBC, up 15% from last year. The final round of the Tour Championship on Aug. 30 averaged 5.37 million viewers on CBS, the most-watched since Tiger Woods won at East Lake in 2018. The PGA Tour’s eight $20 million signature events averaged 3.44 million viewers for their final round broadcasts.
Amid the viewership increases this year, the betting handle on PGA Tour events through the BMW Championship (the season’s penultimate event) was up 30% compared to last year, and total bets placed were up 10%.
The post PGA Tour Viewership Stays Steady in 2026 After Big Increase Last Year appeared first on Front Office Sports.
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