Compared to other sports championship events, the British Open long term ratings trend has been remarkably stable, although not without its year to year ups and downs. I wonder if you can guess by looking at the chart above what happened in 2000, 2005 and 2006? My guess is that we’ll see a sub 4 million average this year regardless of what Greg Norman can do.
Complete British Open TV Ratings, 1972-2007:
| Year | Network | Telecasts | HH Rating | HH Share | Homes (million) | Viewers (million) | Winner |
| 1972 | ABC | 1 | 7.3 | 25 | 4.530 | 8.245 | Lee Trevino |
| 1973 | ABC | 1 | 5.9 | 19 | 3.820 | 5.845 | Tom Weiskopf |
| 1974 | ABC | 1 | 4.3 | 15 | 2.850 | 3.121 | Gary Player |
| 1975 | ABC | 1 | 5.0 | 18 | 3.430 | 5.231 | Tom Watson* |
| 1976 | ABC | 1 | 4.8 | 17 | 3.340 | 5.110 | Johnny Miller |
| 1977 | ABC | 1 | 5.2 | 18 | 3.700 | 4.410 | Tom Watson |
| 1978 | ABC | 1 | 5.0 | 16 | 3.650 | 5.249 | Jack Nicklaus |
| 1979 | ABC | 1 | 4.6 | 15 | 3.430 | 3.749 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1980 | ABC | 2 | 4.7 | 22 | 3.560 | 4.690 | Tom Watson |
| 1981 | ABC | 2 | 4.7 | 21 | 3.640 | 4.514 | Bill Rogers |
| 1982 | ABC | 2 | 5.7 | 22 | 4.630 | 6.917 | Tom Watson |
| 1983 | ABC | 2 | 5.0 | 19 | 4.150 | 5.407 | Tom Watson |
| 1984 | ABC | 2 | 4.1 | 16 | 3.410 | 4.535 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1985 | ABC | 2 | 3.7 | 13 | 3.150 | 4.136 | Sandy Lyle |
| 1986 | ABC | 2 | 3.8 | 14 | 3.300 | 5.306 | Greg Norman |
| 1987 | ABC | 2 | 3.9 | 14 | 3.400 | 4.325 | Nick Faldo |
| 1988 | ABC | 3 | 2.9 | 10 | 2.580 | 3.558 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1989 | ABC | 2 | 4.2 | 16 | 3.770 | 5.018 | Mark Calcavecchia* |
| 1990 | ABC | 2 | 3.6 | 14 | 3.360 | 4.425 | Nick Faldo |
| 1991 | ABC | 2 | 2.8 | 12 | 2.610 | 3.461 | Ian Baker-Finch |
| 1992 | ABC | 2 | 2.9 | 11 | 2.671 | 3.575 | Nick Faldo |
| 1993 | ABC | 2 | 3.8 | 14 | 3.538 | 4.342 | Greg Norman |
| 1994 | ABC | 2 | 3.4 | 13 | 3.203 | 4.027 | Nick Price |
| 1995 | ABC | 2 | 4.1 | 14 | 3.914 | 4.953 | John Daly |
| 1996 | ABC | 2 | 2.9 | 10 | 2.782 | 3.675 | Tom Lehman |
| 1997 | ABC | 2 | 4.1 | 15 | 3.958 | 5.289 | Justin Leonard |
| 1998 | ABC | 2 | 4.3 | 15 | 4.187 | 5.221 | Mark O’Meara |
| 1999 | ABC | 1 | 4.8 | 14 | 4.775 | 6.003 | Paul Lawrie |
| 2000 | ABC | 2 | 5.9 | 19 | 5.617 | 7.312 | Tiger Woods |
| 2001 | ABC | 2 | 4.1 | 15 | 4.216 | 5.446 | David Duval |
| 2002 | ABC | 2 | 4.2 | 14 | 4.473 | 5.754 | Ernie Els |
| 2003 | ABC | 2 | 3.9 | 13 | 4.152 | 4.941 | Ben Curtis |
| 2004 | ABC | 2 | 3.6 | 12 | 3.888 | 4.907 | Todd Hamilton |
| 2005 | ABC | 2 | 4.2 | 13 | 4.620 | 5.468 | Tiger Woods |
| 2006 | ABC | 2 | 3.9 | 12 | 4.339 | 5.333 | Tiger Woods |
| 2007 | ABC | 2 | 3.1 | 10 | 3.474 | 4.220 | Padraig Harrington |
*Playoff
2006-7 data is Live+SD, previous years are Live viewing.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
