U.S. Open Overnight Ratings Up 35% From Last Year

The U.S. Open in primetime is definitely a success. With the 3rd and 4th rounds going well into the evening hours on the East Coast and in the Midwest, there were plenty of people watching as the final round went down to the last hole. Certainly a good thing for NBC and with Tiger Woods out of contention early on Sunday, people still watched. You can rest assured that NBC and the USGA will attempt to add more West Coast U.S. Open sites in the future.

Here’s NBC’s giddy announcement on the ratings.

U.S. OPEN UP 35% FROM LAST YEAR

6.9 Overnight Rating is Best in 9 Years For Open That Tiger Woods Did Not Win

U.S. Open No. 1 Program on Sunday Night

New York. – June 21, 2010 – NBC Sports’ final-round coverage of the U.S. Open from Pebble Beach was up 35 percent in the overnight ratings from last year, according to data provided by The Nielsen Company.  Sunday’s coverage (3-9:15 p.m. ET), which saw Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell win his first major championship, drew an overnight rating of 6.9/15 up 35 percent from last year’s 5.1/12 (1:30-8:15 p.m.ET) and the best for a Sunday round of a U.S. Open in which Tiger Woods did not win since 2001 when Retief Goosen won the Open from Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla (7.0/17).

The rating peaked at a 9.6/17 from 9-9:15 as McDowell defeated France’s Gregory Havret by one stroke.

U.S. OPEN NO. 1 PROGRAM ON SUNDAY NIGHT: The U.S. Open was the No. 1 program of the night, registering an overnight rating of 8.4/16 (7-9:15 p.m. ET), boosting NBC to the No. 1 network on Sunday night. The Open on NBC dominated the competition, nearly doubling its closest competitor (CBS, 7-9 p.m. ET, 4.6).

SUNDAY’S TOP 10 MARKETS:

1. West Palm Beach     12.0/20

2. Ft. Myers                 10.7/20

3. Columbus                 9.1/21

T4. Pittsburgh               9.0/19

T4. Norfolk                  9.0/15

T6. Buffalo                   8.9/19

T6. Cincinnati               8.9/18

T8. Greensboro            8.6/15

T8. Tulsa                      8.6/15

10. Phoenix                  8.4/18

That’s it.