Is Aaron Rai a needle mover?
O.K., that is a bit of a facetious statement, but the PGA Championship drew quite a television audience.
CBS averaged 5,764,000 viewers during the final round from Aronimink, a 21% increase from Scottie Scheffler’s win a year ago at Quail Hollow. This year, coverage peaked at 8 million on Sunday in the final hour of the telecast.
Of course, the final round began with 30 players and 11 major champions within five strokes of the lead, before Rai, a 31-year-old Englishman, snatched his maiden major victory on the back nine.
In addition, third-round coverage on CBS pulled in an average of 3,863,000 viewers, the most-watched third round of the PGA Championship since 2018.
This continues an upward trajectory for golf on CBS, with the network’s PGA Tour coverage averaging an audience of 4,150,000, best since 2015 and a 14% increase from last season.
CBS wasn’t the only network to reap the benefits, though. ESPN’s weekday and early weekend coverage saw a bump.
ESPN’s live coverage of all four rounds at Aronimink Golf Club was the most-watched PGA Championship on ESPN since 2020, pulling in 1.7 million total viewers, a 49% increase from 2025.
Day 1 averaged 1.5 million people, up 61%, while Day 2’s coverage jumped 40% year-over-year, with an audience of 1.8 million. On the weekend, Saturday’s telecast was 52% higher than 2025 and Sunday’s was up 48%, averaging 1.6 million and 1.7 million.
Last year, for context, the final round, which Scheffler claimed a five-stroke victory, on CBS averaged 4.76 million, down 4% from Xander Schauffele’s win in 2024. Viewership for the 2025 PGA Championship was down in all four rounds.
