PGA Tour sees huge viewership gains for 2025 season

After a down year in 2024, the PGA Tour rebounded in a big way throughout 2025.

According to a report by Josh Carpenter in Sports Business Journal, the PGA Tour’s weekend coverage across CBS and NBC increased a whopping 22% versus last season. Saturday and Sunday telecasts averaged 2.28 million viewers this season, up from 1.86 million viewers on the weekends last year.

Last year’s PGA Tour ratings were exceptionally bad on account of an abnormal number of weather delays impacting weekend coverage, fatigue over the LIV Golf situation, and Scottie Scheffler having not yet ascended to the full-fledged star he is today. Per Carpenter, Sunday telecasts were down 19% in 2024, while Saturday windows were down 17%. The weak numbers last season certainly helped pave the way for favorable year-over-year comparisons in 2025, but the gains are welcome nonetheless.

All three of the PGA Tour’s network partners — CBS, NBC, and Golf Channel — saw year-over-year gains. CBS’s weekend telecasts shot up 21% versus last season, averaging 2.16 million viewers per window, its most-watched season since 2022. Signature events in particular contributed to the sizeable gain. The six signature events CBS aired averaged 2.7 million viewers in the final round, up 19% versus such events in 2024.

NBC clocked an 18% increase, averaging 2.38 million viewers (a figure that included the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive year). Golf Channel held relatively even, notching a 1% year-over-year increase and averaging 437,000 viewers per telecast across Thursdays, Fridays, and weekend lead-in coverage.

Next year should be more of the same for the PGA Tour. As with all live sports, Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurements should give PGA Tour viewership a substantial lift. Early data indicates that the PGA Tour will benefit more than most other leagues as a disproportionate amount of golf viewing comes via connected devices rather than traditional television sets. That makes sense considering much of the first two rounds of every event happens during normal working hours.

And with the emergence of Scottie Scheffler as a bona fide superstar, and players like Rory McIlroy still in their prime, the PGA Tour should have every expectation to continue the positive trend next season.