New findings ring alarm bells for televised golf

Golf has been left well behind the mark in American televised sports, according to new data.

The Sports Business Journal has reported that no golf telecasts made the top 100 sports broadcasts in 2023.

The sport’s most-watched event was the final round of the 2023 Masters, which saw new LIV Golf signing Jon Rahm win the coveted green jacket.

That viewership, however, resulted in it being only the 131st-most-viewed sporting event of the year.

The findings follow damaging statistics for golf, that proved the World Darts Championship on Sky massively outreached the Ryder Cup.

Over 4.8 million people watched the darts spectacle live on January 3, while Team Europe’s win in Italy attracted an average of 785,000 viewers on Sky.

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That was a new record, further highlighting the gulf in eyeballs watching golf’s biggest events in comparison with other sports.

It represented a 38 per cent increase on the 2021 edition and 25 per cent increase on the 2018 edition.

In America, though, golf figures were recorded during a year where sport dominated more than ever before.

For the entire PGA Tour season, CBS said numbers were up about one percent to 2.206 million for its 42 PGA Tour broadcasts.

The nine designated (now signature) events were up five percent year over year.

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However, the new research shows that live sports filled 96 of the top 100-watched programmes, and as that record was fuelled by the NFL, golf failed to get a look in.

The NFL, National Football League, took 93 of the top spots, and even occupied 24 of the top 25 spots on the list.

Audiences were measured as live and same day, while Pregame shows, interstitials, shoulder programming and programs under 30 minutes were excluded.

The figures were also for English-language only.