Ratings Roundup: TNT Avoid PGA Championship Slump, Favre’s Return Scores With Viewers

Despite a 30% ratings drop for CBS’s PGA Championship, TNT held strong, posting a 1.6 rating and attracting 2.26 million viewers with its early-Sunday coverage. That rating is even with last year’s 1.6 and slightly up in viewership from 2.4 million.

TNT’s Saturday third-round coverage drew a 1.4 rating and 1.987 million viewers (up 8% and 11%, respectively, from last year). Thursday’s first-round coverage notched a 1.1 and 1.5 million viewers, up 22% in both ratings and viewership from last year (0.9, 1.187 million). Friday’s second-round numbers were down 24%, logging a 1.3 rating and 1.833 million viewers vs. 1.7 and 2.4 million in 2009.

CBS followed up the PGA Championship with a decent ratings performance in its final-round coverage of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday, putting up a 1.6 overnight rating — an 11% drop from last year but a 78% boost from 2008. Saturday’s telecast drew a 1.0 overnight, up from 0.9 last year.

As expected, Brett Favre’s return piqued viewers’ interest, with NBC logging a 7.2 overnight rating for Sunday’s Minnesota Vikings-San Franciso 49ers matchup. The rating is the best NFL Preseason Week Two overnight on any network since a 2005 Dallas Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks game earned the same rating. Overnight ratings peaked at an 8.1 in the 8:30-9 p.m. ET period.

In other NFL preseason ratings news, Fos’s New England Patriots-Atlanta Falcons telecast on Thursday drew a 3.7 final rating and 5.785 million viewers, down 12% in both ratings and viewership from the comparable night last year (4.2, 6.559 mil).