American sports fans looking for an appetizer prior to Sunday’s World Cup final seemed to get one in the 154th Open Championship.
NBC’s final-round coverage of the last men’s golf major of the year averaged 4.3 million viewers, up six percent from last year’s victory from Scottie Scheffler at Royal Portrush (4.1 million viewers). Ryan Fox’s dramatic win capped with a birdie on the 72nd hole peaked at 6.1 million viewers during the 1:15 p.m. ET quarter-hour.
As usual, the Open Championship was the least-watched of the four majors due to a less favorable time zone for the American audience. NBC’s final-round window began at 9 a.m. and went through 2 p.m. ET, whereas final-round coverage of the Masters, for instance, begins at 2 p.m. and typically runs until about 7 p.m. ET. Those Sunday afternoon hours are prime viewing times for the U.S. audience. Sunday morning? Not so much.
As Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter lays out, June’s U.S. Open averaged 5.5 million viewers in the final round, the PGA Championship 5.7 million viewers in May, and the Masters 13.9 million viewers in April.
NBC: 4.3 million viewers for the final round of @TheOpen, its best since 2022, though with the addition of Big Data, fair to wonder if last year (4.1M) would have outdrawn it.
Major viewership this year (final rounds)
Masters: 13.9M
PGA: 5.7M
U.S. Open: 5.5M
Open: 4.3M pic.twitter.com/1jvOdTBxTz— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) July 21, 2026
Still, holding an audience of 4.3 million viewers across a five-hour window early on Sunday is a solid result for NBC. It should be noted, this is the first Open Championship to be measured using Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel standard, and the six percent year-over-year increase falls within the range that could solely be explained by the changes.
Saturday saw a larger year-over-year bump, however. Third-round coverage on NBC and Peacock averaged 3.7 million viewers, up 16 percent versus last year (3.2 million viewers) and good for the most-watched third round since 2018.
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