Ratings Roundup: 100th Edition of the PGA Championship Captivates Fans With Final Round Fireworks; The Ocho Returns to ESPN With Success By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor
Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - 8:00 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, the 100th edition of the PGA Championship aired on CBS Sports and digitally on TNT, ESPN The Ocho racks in huge success in its second appearance, NBC Sports almost hit double digits in the millions for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, MLB Network enjoys a seven day stretch of coverage, and Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN presents their highest-rated game in four years.
CBS Sports and TNT Digital Service Benefit from Koepka's Win at the PGA Championship
The Final Round of the 2018 PGA Championship was the most-watched in nine years on CBS (10.1 million in 2009). An average of 8.5 million viewers (Persons 2+) tuned in - an increase of 73% compared to last year's 4.9 million.
The final-round viewership peaked with an average of 12.3 million viewers from 6:30-7:00 PM, ET.
Turner Sports' extensive coverage of this year's historic 100th PGA Championship delivered all-time records across PGA Digital assets - PGA.com, PGAChampionship.com, PGA Championship App - and significant gains for live video consumption across all platforms.
The Turner-managed PGA suite of digital products established new all-time records - and triple-digit year-over-year gains - in live video starts (up 119% vs. 2017), time spent viewing (up 105%), and total audience (up 107%, based on unique visitors) for a PGA Championship. This year's live event coverage produced PGA.com's best Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday performance ever for the PGA Championship based on live video consumption; Friday's action was suspended because of weather.
TNT garnered its most-watched PGA Championship coverage since 2015, averaging 1.3 million viewers for an 11% increase when compared to last year. Additionally, the event produced its most-viewed third and fourth rounds since 2010 (up 40% and 39%, respectively, vs. 2017). Sunday's final round telecast - which peaked with 2.5 million viewers from 1:30-45 p.m. ET - averaged 1.9 million viewers.
Additional highlights include:
TNT's coverage of the PGA Championship delivered double-digit gains across all key demos vs. last year, including a 20% increase in People 18-49, 19% growth in People/Men 25-54 and an 18% boost in People 18-34.
Live streaming across Watch TNT, Turner's TV Everywhere platform, established a new high for PGA Championship coverage and delivered a 25% lift in video consumption vs. 2017.
PGA accounts managed by Turner Sports generated more than 10 million video views across Twitter and Instagram, up 58% when compared to the 2017 PGA Championship.
ESPN The Ocho Shines in Year 2
ESPN's second annual ESPN8 The Ocho presented by KFC Battle of the Buckets event returned with a vengeance, this time on ESPN2, with a jump in average total audience of 150% over last year's showing on ESPNU.
The most viewed sporting event on the slate of alternative sports programming was the 2018 Dodgeball World Cup with 247,000 average viewers - up 226% over last year's most viewed event, the 2017 Championship of Bags. Moxie Games and Kabaddi came in at second and third respectively. Both events saw significant increases in average viewership over last year with Kabaddi seeing a 351% increase and Moxie Games seeing a 106% increase.
Targeted as a cross-platform initiative, overall social media sentiment for The Ocho skewed positive at 89%. There were nearly 15,000 social mentions over the 24-hour period with a peak traffic time between 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Rugby World Cup Sevens Sees 9 Million Viewers
NBC Sports' comprehensive coverage of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens from AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., from July 20-22, featured numerous viewership milestones, highlighted by what is believed to be the most-watched live rugby telecast on record.
NBC Sports' coverage of the Rugby World Cup Sevens reached nearly 9 million viewers across five telecasts on NBC and NBCSN. NBC Sports presented a pair of telecasts on NBC, punctuated by coverage on Sunday, July 22 (2:30-5 p.m. ET), which averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.365 million viewers, ranking as what is believed to be the most-watched live rugby telecast on record in the U.S.
July 22's telecast on NBCSN (7:33-9:37 p.m. ET), which was highlighted by live coverage of the championship final in which New Zealand defeated England, 33-12, averaged a TAD of 370,000 viewers to rank as NBCSN's most-watched rugby telecast on record. Streaming coverage across NBC Sports' digital platforms delivered 1.7 million live minutes and 36,000 uniques.
Overall, NBC Sports presented more than 30 hours of live Rugby World Cup Sevens coverage across NBC, NBCSN, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and NBC Sports Gold - NBC Sports Group's direct-to-consumer product, representing the most robust U.S. coverage of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in the event's history.
2018 MLB Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Highlights Seven Day Stretch for MLB Network
The best seven-day stretch in three years was experienced by MLB Network during July 29 and August 4, according to Cynopsis Sports. With the Hall of Fame ceremony taking place in Cooperstown, the trade deadline, and two marquee matchups between the Red Sox and Yankees, the week-long stretch was the third best in the regular season. The HOF induction ceremony averaged 340,000 viewers - up 31%.
Red Sox vs. Yankees Catapult Sunday Night Baseball to Best Mark in Four Years
The 10-innin
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
Ratings Roundup: 100th Edition of the PGA Championship Captivates Fans With Final Round Fireworks; The Ocho Returns to ESPN With Success By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor 
