The Masters: Final Round Earns 8.0 Rating, Fifth-Lowest in the Past 30 Years

Posted by | 04/17/2012 at 10:11 pm

Third and final round coverage of The Masters suffered double-digit declines in both ratings and viewership.

Final round coverage of The Masters drew an 8.0 final rating and 13.487 million viewers on CBS April 8th, down 16% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (9.5, 15.257M), and down 25% and 19%, respectively, from 2010 (10.7, 16.676M).

This marks the lowest rated final round of The Masters since 2004 (7.3), and the least-viewed since 2008 (13.148M).

Overall, the 8.0 rating is the fifth-lowest for the final round of The Masters in the past thirty years, ahead of only 1985 (7.8), 1986 (7.5), 2004 (7.3) and 1993 (6.8).

Including this year, three of the five lowest rated final rounds since ’82 have taken place on Easter Sunday.

For some perspective, final round coverage of The Masters drew a lower rating and fewer viewers than every game of the 2011 NBA Finals, six of the seven games of the 2011 World Series, all three games of the 2012 NCAA Tournament Final Four and the race portion of the 2011 Kentucky Derby (8.5, 14.539M).

Third round coverage on April 7th drew a 5.0 final rating and 7.347 million viewers, down 23% in ratings and viewership from last year (6.5, 9.486M), and down 25% and 26%, respectively, from 2010 (6.7, 9.897M).

The 5.0 rating is tied as the lowest for third round action since 1992, and ranks as the third-lowest third round rating of the past thirty years.

Final Ratings/Viewership For Final Round Coverage of The Masters
Dating back to 1995
Easter Sunday indicated with asterisk (*)

Year
 Date Winner Tiger Finish Net Rating Viewers (000)
2012* Sun., 4/8/12 Watson
40th
 CBS
8.0
13,487
2011 Sun., 4/10/11 Schwartzel
4th
 CBS
9.5
15,257
2010 Sun., 4/11/10 Mickelson
4th
 CBS
10.7
16,676
2009* Sun., 4/12/09 Cabrera
6th
 CBS
8.3
14,303
2008 Sun., 4/13/08 Immelman
2nd
 CBS
8.6
13,148
2007* Sun., 4/8/07 Johnson
2nd
 CBS
9.1
14,941
2006 Sun., 4/9/06 Mickelson
3rd
 CBS
8.4
12,361
2005 Sun., 4/10/05 Woods
Won
 CBS
9.8
14,634
2004* Sun., 4/11/04 Mickelson
22nd
 CBS
7.3
11,821
2003 Sun., 4/13/03 Weir
15th
 CBS
8.3
11,667
2002 Sun., 4/14/02 Woods
Won
 CBS
9.2
13,085
2001 Sun., 4/8/01 Woods
Won
 CBS
13.3
19,157
2000 Sun., 4/9/00 Singh
5th
 CBS
10.0
13,583
1999 Sun., 4/11/99 Olazábal
18th
 CBS
10.1
13,842
1998* Sun., 4/12/98 O’Meara
8th
 CBS
10.2
15,590
1997 Sun., 4/13/97 Woods
Won
 CBS
14.1
20,255
1996 Sun., 4/14/96 Faldo
60th
 CBS
9.2
12,442
1995 Sun., 4/9/95 Crenshaw
41st
 CBS
9.8
13,014

(April 7-8 numbers from Media Life Magazine; some past data from Sports Business Daily)

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