The second round of the Masters dominated the day in sports viewership for Friday, April 12.
Friday’s second round of the Masters averaged 3.68 million viewers on ESPN, up 54% from last year, when second round coverage was halted due to severe weather (2.39M). Compared to two years ago, when there was no weather delay, viewership declined 5% from 3.88 million.
ESPN averaged 3.42 million for its primary afternoon Masters windows, the highest average since 2018.
The conclusion of the first round averaged 965,000 on ESPN in the early morning hours, while second round lead-in coverage averaged 961,000 in the afternoon. A primetime encore of the main second round window drew 954,000.
Outside of the Masters, the day’s top sportscast was a NASCAR Truck Series race from Texas with 503,000 on FS1 — down from last year’s Saturday afternoon edition (644K). It was preceded by Xfinity Series qualifying at 186,000 and followed by tape-delayed NHRA qualifying at 159,000.
On the penultimate day of the NBA regular season, NBA TV averaged 414,000 for Suns-Kings and 341,000 for Bucks-Thunder — both down from the final Friday of last season (Suns-Lakers: 599K; Grizzlies-Bucks: 370K). MLB Network drew 162,000 for a primetime regional window (Rangers-Astros or Braves-Marlins) and 180,000 for a joined-in-progress nightcap (Padres-Dodgers or Cardinals-Diamondbacks). ESPN2 pulled 145,000 for a Duke-Clemson college softball game and ESPN2 just 42,000 for an LSU-Tennessee college baseball game.
Friday, April 12 sports ratings
Original chart below (including WWE Smackdown):
