Masters Ratings: Final Round Overnights Up 14%

Final round Masters ratings hit a three-year high in the metered markets.

Sunday’s final round of the Masters earned an 8.7 overnight rating on CBS, up 14% from last year (7.6), up 2% from 2016 (8.5) and the highest for the tournament in three years (2015: 9.6).

The 8.7 is the third-highest for final round coverage since 2011, trailing 2015 and 2013 (10.2).

Patrick Reed‘s win peaked at an 11.0 overnight from 6:45-7 PM ET, actually below last year’s peak of 11.2 (7-7:30 PM).

All four rounds of the Masters posted a double-digit increase in the metered markets, though the weekend gains on CBS (up 24 and 14 percent) paled in comparison to the earlier rounds on ESPN (up 40 and 55 percent).

This year’s Masters was the first for Tiger Woods since 2015. Compared to that 2015 tournament, overnights declined for three of four rounds.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was Sunday’s top market with a 15.8 rating, somewhat of a surprise given it did not rank in the top five for any of the previous rounds. Greenville, S.C. (14.0), Ft. Myers, Fla. (13.5), West Palm Beach, Fla. (13.2) and Tampa-St. Petersburg (13.0) rounded out the top five.