Ratings Roundup: the Open s Monday Finale Delivers for ESPN; NBCSN Keeps Up NASCAR Pace

ESPN's live coverage of The Open from the famous Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland posted double-digit ratings and viewership increases from 2014. Overall, The Open delivered a 1.4 US household rating, up 27% from 2014 (1.1), and 1,940,000 viewers, up 29% from 2014 (1,500,000). Monday's final round coverage peaked from 1:30-1:45 p.m. ET with a 3.7 household rating and 5,294,000 viewers as American Zach Johnson captured his second career major, defeating Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in the first playoff at The Open since 2009.

First Round (Thurs): Coverage averaged a 0.8 household rating, flat with 2014, and 1,091,000 viewers, a nine% gain from 2014 (1,000,000 viewers). Due to weather delays, the second round aired across Friday and Saturday, averaging a 1.2 household rating, up 33% from 2014 (0.9 rating) and 1,550,000 viewers, a 29% spike from 2014 (1,205,000 viewers). Sunday's Third Round earned a 2.1 household rating and 2,910,000 viewers, increases of 110% (1.0 rating) and 115% (1,351,000 viewers), respectively, from the weather impacted 2014 event. The Final Round on Monday posted a 2.1 household rating, up 11% from 2014 (1.9), and 2,851,000 viewers, up five% from 2014 (2,703,000 viewers).

Top metered markets for ESPN's 2015 presentation of The Open include West Palm Beach (2.9 rating), Louisville (2.7), Oklahoma City (2.6), Tampa-St. Petersburg (2.4), Greensboro, N.C. (2.4), Ft. Myers, Fla. (2.4), Columbus (2.4), Charlotte (2.3), Indianapolis (2.2), Raleigh-Durham (2.2) and Tulsa (2.2).

The Open on ESPN digital platforms reached record-breaking viewership this year as live coverage of Monday's final round finished as the top golf event and one of the top 10 events all-time in minutes viewed for WatchESPN behind the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship game. Monday's coverage alone - including the early morning session, Spanish language feed and international view - generated over 1.1 million unique viewers, more than 94 million total minutes viewed and an average minute audience of 222,000.

Across all platforms throughout the entire tournament, The Open on WatchESPN saw a daily average of 599,000 unique viewers that watched over 40 million minutes per day, up 60% and 105%, respectively, compared to last year's tournament. Additionally, each round of The Open saw increases over their respective day of play in 2014, averaging a 23% increase in unique viewers and a 33% increase in total minutes.

In total, golf content across all ESPN digital platforms - including ESPN.com, the ESPN app and WatchESPN - averaged 55.5 million minutes per day and an average minute audience of 39,000, both double the daily average of the previous year's tournament

The Open also delivered for Golf Channel, which posted its most-watched week ever for The Open Championship. Additionally, Golf Channel served nearly 8 million unique viewers across the week, not including viewership on Monday, July 20, with coverage surrounding the weather-delayed final round. This is the most unique viewers for Golf Channel during the week of The Open since 2009 (8.3 million).

For 24-hour Total Day (6AM-6AM), 105,000 average viewers per minute were tuned into Golf Channel, the network's most-watched week ever for The Open (Mon-Sun) and representing 30% YOY and 46% vs. the historical average (72,000) for this week (2006-2014). Last week, four respective days set new marks for most-watched day during the week of The Open, including Monday (92,000), Tuesday (98,000), Wednesday (136,000) and Sunday (133,000). And, Wednesday's 136,000 average viewers was the second most-watched of any day during The Open for Golf Channel, trailing only Saturday of 2008 (150,000).

Golf Channel Digital via GolfChannel.com and Golf Channel Mobile App posted record traffic for the week of The Open Championship, according to Adobe Site Catalyst. Golf Channel Digital 39 million page views ( 144% YOY) we're Best Week Ever Record. Golf Channel Digital 7.2 million visits ( 60% YOY) were Best Week Ever Record. Golf Channel Digital 2 million video starts ( 23% YOY) we're Best Ever for The Open. Additionally, Golf Live Extra streaming of Golf Central Live From St. Andrews generated 566,000 minutes watched ( 334% YOY)

Paced by its second live NASCAR Sprint Cup race, NBCSN more than doubled its total-day viewership vs. last year for the second consecutive weekend. NBCSN posted a total day average of 593,000 viewers this past weekend - up 186% from the same weekend last year. Sunday's presentation of NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing from New Hampshire ranked as the most-watched cable program of the weekend and highlighted NBCSN's triple-header weekend of racing. NBCSN registered a total-day average of 593,000 viewers this past weekend (July 18-19), up 186% from the same weekend last year (July 19-20, 2014) and marking the second consecutive weekend - both featuring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races - that the network doubled average total-day viewership vs. 2014.

NBCSN's Sunday afternoon presentation of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race averaged 3.7 million viewers - ranking as the most-watched cable telecast of the weekend. In addition, the race earned the highest non-Olympic HH rating in NBCSN history (2.37). However, according to SportsMediaWatch, the race was down 11% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year opposite the World Cup final (2.7, 4.3M) and down 25% in both measures from 2013 (3.2, 4.9M), both of which aired on TNT. Viewership for Sunday's NASCAR telecast peaked at 4.4 million viewers from 4:15-4:30 p.m. ET as Kyle Busch won his third Sprint Cup race in four weekends.

NBCSN's Saturday afternoon NASCAR XFINITY Series race averaged 1.3 million viewers. Fans streamed 1.9 million minutes of live NASCAR racing last weekend via N

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