Presidents Cup garners 1.4 million viewers as USA runs away with victory, downward trend continuesÂ
The 2024 Presidents Cup concluded last weekend with the US winning the title for the 10th consecutive time. However, the ratings for the tournament have considerably dropped from last year.
This year, the Presidents Cup finale on Sunday garnered 1.4 million viewers on NBC according to Austin Karp. The last edition two years ago in Quail Hollow had amassed a 1.89 million viewership on NBC. It was a slight improvement from its predecessor. The final round in 2019 had gathered 1.74 million viewers in prime time on Golf Channel.
The lack of viewership this year can be attributed to the power outage in several homes in the southeast this weekend. On top of that, the tournament had to fight the NFL for viewership. The football league is a giant when it comes to television ratings in the USA and competing with it can simply be a lost battle.
Golf events in general have seen a considerable decline in viewership. According to Rory McIlroy, the decline for PGA Tour events is approximately 20% and the numbers for LIV Golf aren't great either. He said via Irish Star:
"If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20 percent across the board. That's a fifth. That's big. I would say the numbers on LIV aren't great either in terms of the people tuning in,"
But all in all the final round ratings are painting a bleak picture for the PGA Tour.
Why did fans complain about the Presidents Cup streaming?
Fans had been complaining about the Presidents Cup streaming since the beginning of this year's edition. NBC and their streaming counterpart Peacock were going to broadcast the biennial event.
However, Peacock didn't show the first two rounds of the tournament, disappointing fans. This is not the first time fans have complained about the limited coverage of golf events. The broadcast for the 2024 Masters started late on NBC, causing an overall four and a half hours delay. This was because the organizers had provided a limited window for live coverage. The final round at Augusta National this year saw a 20% drop in ratings as compared to the previous year.
After these complaints, the Masters announced an additional hour of the main broadcast coverage along with two extra hours of pre-broadcast on Paramount + for the 2025 edition of the major tournament. While this news also didn't sit well with fans, who were frustrated with having to subscribe to multiple platforms to watch one event peacefully, these complaints haven't yet received a solution.
As for the Presidents Cup coverage this year, golf fans weren't the only ones complaining about the broadcast. NFL fans were unhappy that NBC had chosen to air the Presidents Cup instead of the Louisville v/s Notre Dame match on Saturday.