Golf Channel schedule for the Olympics featured the most live coverage ever for a women’s golf event (34.5 hours), which was bolstered all week with an additional 35.5 hours of live news coverage with Golf Central’s Live From The Olympics and Morning Drive. In total, Golf Channel dedicated 124 hours of programming to this week’s women’s golf competition and as a result, generated record-breaking viewership. Final Round viewership will be available Sunday, August 21.
Friday, August 19: Round 3
Golf Channel’s afternoon coverage of the third round is the most-watched third round in more than five years for any women’s stroke-play golf event on cable in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:36 pm ET; 0.28 US HH rating, 390,000 average viewers), dating back to the third round of the 2011 Women’s British Open on ESPN (7/30/11; 476,000).
Golf Channel’s Friday afternoon coverage of the third round was up 212% among average viewers and up 180% for U.S. household rating vs. the same Friday in 2012 opposite the London Games.
Thursday, August 18: Round 2
Golf Channel’s second-round coverage is the highest-rated live weekday round of any women’s golf event (at the time, now second behind Olympics Round 3) in more than two years in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:14 pm ET; 0.23 US HH rating, 316,000 average viewers), dating back to the second round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst (6/20/14; 0.44 U.S. HH rating on ESPN2).
Wednesday, August 17: Round 1
Golf Channel’s coverage tied as the highest-rated round one of any women’s golf event in 2016 (Noon-3:54 pm ET; 0.17 US HH rating, 217,000 average viewers), matching the rating for coverage of the ANA Inspiration Major Championship, which aired in primetime (3/31/16, 7:12-9:12 pm ET).
