Friday’s Second Round Broadcast on USA Network Averaged 1.2 Million Viewers
Friday’s Coverage Peaked at Nearly 2 Million Viewers; Most-Watched Open Championship Quarter Hour on Cable Since 2015 and USA Network’s Most-Watched Open Championship Quarter Hour On Record
Saturday and Sunday Early-Round Coverage on USA Network Up 12% vs. 2025
Friday’s “Live From The Open“ on Golf Channel is Most-Watched Since the 2026 Masters
STAMFORD, Conn. – USA Sports’ coverage of the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale – totaling more than 25 hours of live coverage on USA Network from Thursday to Sunday – was USA Network’s most-watched Open Championship coverage since 2022.
Year-over-year viewership gains were highlighted by USA Network’s second round live window on Friday (6 a.m. – 4:41 p.m. ET), which averaged 1.2 million viewers across the entirety of the coverage.
Friday’s viewership on USA Network peaked at nearly 2 million viewers (1.97 million, 3:15-3:30 p.m. ET) to mark the most-watched Open Championship quarter hour on cable since 2015 and USA Network’s most-watched Open Championship quarter hour on record.
USA Network also saw double digit percentage viewership gains for its early round coverage on Saturday (12%) and Sunday (11%).
Overall, USA Sports’ more than 25 hours of Open Championship coverage on USA Network averaged 873,000 viewers, up 17% year-over-year when comparing Nielsen Big Data + Panel to Panel-only, and up 2% when comparing Big Data + Panel to the same metric in 2025.
Additionally, Friday’s “Live From The Open” on Golf Channel was the most-watched Live From since this year’s Masters Tournament in April, averaging 354,000 viewers.
Golf Channel’s social platforms had their best week of the year, accumulating 55 million video views across social, up 252% vs. last year, and 4 million engagements on all platforms, up 478% from 2025.
Jamie Palatini
VP, Communications
Jamie.palatini@versantmedia.com
(908) 347-1472
