The Showdown has now been and gone as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler comfortably beat Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka but the viewing figures are now in and it’s bleak reading all around.
Golf fans had very much been looking forward to the event in Las Vegas and for those who did tune in, they got to see some good golf among four of the world’s best.
However, there were complaints about the likes of Charles Barkley ruining things on commentary, while some fans were disappointed in The Showdown as a whole.
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And now, looking at the viewing figures the event pulled in, it looks like it didn’t quite have the impact expected.
Viewing figures for The Showdown make grim reading
As we all know, sport and golf especially is driven by money and sponsorships which in turn, link to the amount of people absorbing the product.
However, despite the presence of McIlroy, Scheffler, DeChambeau and Koepka, it seems people didn’t quite buy into this one.
In stats shared by journalist Josh Carpenter, it’s claimed that only 625k viewers tuned into the event across two different networks.
According to Carpenter, that makes it the second lowest viewed ‘Match’ of all time, meaning despite star power, the event has failed to grab the attention it wanted.
How The Showdown’s viewing figures compare to other major golf events
On the surface, 625k might seem a high number but when it comes to big golf tournaments, it’s miserably low.
For example, The Masters in 2024 pulled in more than 9.5m viewers for the final round while the average over rounds three and four was more than 8m.
Even for some smaller events, like the RBC Heritage for example, the viewership remains at over the 2m mark and reaches plenty more eyes.
Even if we look at this event as a sort of ‘All Star’ game, it pales in comparison to something like the NBA, which draws over 5m viewers for its All-Star game mid-season.
Certainly, then, it seems this latest edition of The Match hasn’t got the juices flowing and whether this is a telling problem for any future LIV v PGA events, remains to be seen.
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