The LIV Golf League got underway at Mayakoba, with Charles Howell III claiming the $4 million top prize, including $750,000 after his Crushers GC team finished at the top of the leaderboard.
Not only was there the introduction of the league, but also the showcase of LIV's multi-year TV and streaming deal with the CW Network, something which was described as a "momentous day for LIV Golf" by CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman. So, what were the ratings for its first event on the network? Well, according to LIV, not too bad.
📺 The opening #LIVGolf weekend on @TheCW generated a U.S. audience of over 3.2 million total viewers across all platformsMarch 3, 2023
Original reports may have looked bleak but, in a press release from LIV on Friday, it is reported that 3.2 million total US viewers tuned in across all platforms for the first three-day event of 2023.
Using iSpot, a TV ad measurement and analytics company, as well as CW and LIV Golf internal data, the opening tournament saw a reported 1.6 million total viewers tune in on linear television including CW affiliates on Saturday, with more than 1.3 million total linear viewers on Sunday.
The last interesting stat came in the form of the average linear viewership domestically in the United States. According to LIV, this was more than 537,000, which it reports compares favourably with the viewership average of the MLS (343,000), NHL (373,000) and the 2023 Australian Open men’s tennis final (439,000).
Howell III and his Crushers GC team celebrate in Mexico
"Our first weekend of live coverage for the 2023 LIV Golf season exceeded expectations," said Will Staeger, LIV Golf’s Chief Media Officer. "It represented the LIV Golf League’s debut on The CW, The CW App, and the weekend’s highest downloaded free sports app, LIV Golf Plus. LIV has diversified its consumption model, tailoring our distribution to the way viewers consume their content – and these numbers reflect the new ways that sports are watched."
Along with Staegar, Dennis Miller, President of The CW Network, added: "We are really encouraged by the dramatic viewership increases we saw across our affiliates. The performance of LIV Golf is very competitive with other longstanding sports leagues and we are confident that the audience for the league will continue growing throughout the season."
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