LIV Golf reportedly recorded over 3 million US viewers

The Saudi-funded professional golf tour, LIV Golf, has made mind-boggling claims about its viewership across all platforms in the United States.

In the latest tweet from LIV Golf's official Twitter handle, the tour has claimed to have been watched by over 3.2 million viewers in the US.

"The opening #LIVGolf weekend on @TheCW generated a U.S. audience of over 3.2 million total viewers across all platforms"

📺 The opening #LIVGolf weekend on @TheCW generated a U.S. audience of over 3.2 million total viewers across all platforms

According to the league's claims, they have generated an enormous sum of 3.2 million audiences across all linear and digital platforms on The CW Network. The PGA Tour's competitor league claimed that the data was analyzed according to audience measurement provider iSpot, also adding up LIV Golf and The CW digital data. The three-day competition was held from February 24 to 26.

More than 1.6 million people watched LIV Golf's Saturday broadcast on linear television. This included CW affiliates and Nexstar stations carrying the league in key markets and out-of-home viewings.

On Sunday, more than 1.3 million people watched the league on linear television as part of a new rights deal with The CW that was announced on January 19.

🐥 and 🦅 on their minds

#LIVGolf https://t.co/52YTxCABrH

The league's first weekend of live coverage averaged more than 537,000 linear viewers. This outpaced the average viewership for the National Hockey League's 105th season on ESPN and TNT (373,000). It was also above the average viewership for the 2023 Australian Open Men's final on ESPN (439,000), and the average viewership for Major League Soccer's 2022 season on ABC and ESPN (343,000). All ratings solely include domestic US viewers.

The CW Network's local market ratings for the time period increased by double digits in 11 top US areas for the debut event of the league in 2023. This is compared to their year-to-date weekend averages for the time period.

Also, according to Nielsen, the CW's weekend primetime national ratings increased by +24 percent among all viewers compared to the network's weekend season-to-date average.

Twitter reacts to LIV Golf's viewership claims

Just after the league's official Twitter account shared the information, fans quickly went into the comment section to share their opinions on the update.

One commenter wrote that the quotes from the CW would hurt PGA Tour officials. He also emphasized that everyone should 'just let things get better'.

@livgolf_league @TheCW Quotes from the CW executive saying they’re really happy with the numbers.

PGAT desperados won’t be please with this. The sooner they let go & just let things be the better it is for all of us passionate golf people.

Here are some other noteworthy reactions on Twitter, from fans and viewers.

@livgolf_league @TheCW Huge PGA/golf watcher. LIV is not that bad. I like the different format. Honestly if you love golf you like watching LIV because its professionals playing golf. All the haters watch golf 1 time a year most likely.

@livgolf_league @TheCW The 3.2M is probably measuring the number of viewers that tuned in at any time during the broadcast window

If you take a snapshot at various time points and take an average the audience will be much lower

The NextStar CEO explained this in his conference call

@livgolf_league @TheCW Also hearing there were 75,000 in attendance at the mayakoba exhibition

The CW Network's linear and digital channels will broadcast every 2023 tournament of the league from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM ET, on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Gallery Golf Club in Arizona will host LIV Golf Tucson from March 17 to March 19 to resume league play.