Tiger Woods‘ first Masters in three years delivered the tournament’s largest audience in three years.
Patrick Reed‘s win, which peaked at a 9.9 and 16.8 million from 6:15-6:30 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched golf telecast in three years — since the final round of the 2015 Masters (8.7, 14.0M).
This year marked the first time Woods played the Masters since that 2015 tournament. Woods finished in a tie for 32nd and was never in contention, but “The Tiger Effect” was clearly in play. Sunday’s telecast outdrew the three years Woods missed the tournament — last year, 2016 and 2014 — evidence that even a diminished Tiger is better than none at all.
Even so, the numbers were not exactly spectacular. The 7.9 rating is the fifth-lowest for final round coverage since 1993, ahead of only last year, 2016, 2014 and 2004 (7.3). The TV audience was the seventh-smallest since 1996 (TV+streaming figures were not available).
Compared to other sports, Sunday’s telecast easily topped this year’s NASCAR Daytona 500 (5.3, 9.3M) but was no match for last year’s Kentucky Derby (9.3, 16.4M). It beat both NCAA Final Four semifinals in ratings, though it trailed both games in viewership.
Final round coverage scored a 2.7 rating in adults 18-49, up 17% from last year (2.3) and up a tick from 2016 (2.6).
Saturday’s third round action pulled a 5.3 rating and 8.14 million viewers, up 23% in ratings and 26% in viewership from last year (4.3, 6.5M) and up 4% and 2% respectively from 2016 (5.1, 7.96M). It was the highest rated and most-watched third round since 2015 (5.8, 8.9M).
Overall, all four rounds of the Masters increased double-digits over last year, but only one of the four rounds increased over Woods’ previous appearance in 2015.
[Sun. numbers from CBS]
