Fox Sports Jumps Out to Fast U.S. Open Ratings Start

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

Fox Sports drew big audiences for its primetime opening round coverage of the U.S. Open championship last night.

Fox broadcasting and FS1’s primetime coverage of the golf event drew a combined 3.4 million viewers -- the best first round coverage on a broadcast network since 2002, according to Fox Sports. The performance was up 61% over last year’s 2.1 million viewers, according to the network.

Fox broadcasting in primetime carried main coverage of the US Open, while FS1 offered a dedicated feed that followed two groups of golfers that included Tiger Woods and defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

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On the cable side, FS1’s day-long first round coverage (12:30 to 7:30 pm ET) averaged 1.3 million viewers, up 30% from 2018’s 1 million viewers, according to Fox Sports.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.