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The 2020 U.S. Open's Overnight Ratings Are Not Good
The rescheduled 2020 U.S. Open provides a rare, and (hopefully) one-off look into what happens when a major championship moves to the fall against the NFL.
The numbers, courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily.com’s Mitch Metcalf, saw Sunday’s final round earn a 1.99 overnight rating, on par with the better “Return to Golf” events but easily a record U.S. Open low.
The previous benchmark for a U.S. Open final round came in 2014 when Martin Kaymer’s runaway win earned a 3.0 on NBC. However, that event was not going up against top-flight NFL matchups on CBS and Fox, where this year’s tournament was crushed by two dynamite games: Cowboys vs. Falcons and Chiefs vs. Chargers.
Against less competition Saturday, the 8-hour third round telecast averaged a 1.92, or 542,000 viewers in the only age group that purportedly shops.
NBC’s weekday coverage drew more decently, with a 1.33 Thursday and a 1.51 Friday.
Golf Channel’s first-year televising U.S. Open action appears have established record overnight lows which will almost certainly improve in 2021 when the event returns to June and a west coast venue.
Three editions of “Live From” surfaced in the top 150 cable shows, with Sunday’s post-final round edition earning a .03/171,000 viewers.
