Ratings: 2022 Genesis No Match For Daytona 500

Showbuzzdaily has Sunday’s numbers and it appears the combo platter of Joaquin Niemann’s healthy final round lead and the Daytona 500 led to disappointing Nielsen ratings.

The 2022 Genesis Invitational featuring all ten of the world top ten drew a final round 1.57/2.6 million average viewership on CBS, down significantly from 2021’s 2.24/3.6 million average when Max Homa beat Tony Finau in a playoff in front of no crowd due to COVID restrictions.

The ‘21 Genesis was competing against a Daytona road race. This year though, the 500 syphoned a lot of casual sports fans despite the return of crowds and some stunning visuals from Riviera. The Daytona 500 was Sunday’s most-watched television program of the entire day, drawing an 8.8 million viewer average and 4.4 rating.

Saturday’s Genesis numbers were well up thanks to 2021’s wind-delay.

Sunday lead-in coverage on Golf Channel also saw a huge decline, drawing a .48/745k average in 2022. That’s down from a .74/1.2 million average in 2021.

The 2021 numbers for comparison:

Meanwhile the previous week’s WM Open told a better story, with Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch calling the ratings “down a tick” from 2021:

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Phoenix Open, which ran long and concluded after the Super Bowl had begun, averaged a 2.0 rating and 3.59 million viewers on CBS last Sunday — down a tick in ratings from last year (2.1, 3.69M) but up 16% from two years ago (1.75, 2.87M).

Third round action the previous day drew a 1.5 and 2.43 million, flat in ratings compared to last year (1.5, 2.24M)