Buoyed by a strong finish spilling into the prime time window, the 2020 BMW championship was up 10% from 2019’s playing, drawing a 2.3 and 3.4 million average viewers on NBC. Jon Rahm defeated Dustin Johnson after both made unbelievable 18th green putts, one in regulation (Johnson) and the latter in the sudden death (Rahm).
The 2020 BMW was played a week later than last year and without NFL preseason competition.
The 2.23 final round rating almost won the sports weekend, falling just short of NASCAR’s Saturday race but easily outdrawing several NBA playoff games on cable.
The 2020 BMW weekend lead-in coverage on Golf Channel was essentially flat from last year (.54/.73 in 2019 vs. .64/.68 in 2020).
Meanwhile, the LPGA Tour remained in a traditional weekend finish slow and attempted to go against the PGA Tour and many other sports. Both weekend rounds of the Walmart NW Arkansas on Golf Channel aired from 5-7 pm ET and failed to land in the top 150 cable shows.
To beat the drum for the 913th time: why try to compete with so many viewing options, particularly when fan-free events should free up Monday or Tuesday finishes?