Tiger Boosts Masters Ratings But The Morning Start Did Not

Tiger Woods and TV ratings are longtime buddies. Whenever TW is or is not in an event, the viewership numbers react accordingly. It was no different when Tiger won last week’s Masters. In fact, if the weather hadn’t necessitated a rare Sunday early-morning start (and combat church), one has to assume the numbers would’ve been astronomical.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Rick Porter reports on the pros and cons of Woods and the affects of the morning start

The final round of The Masters began at 7:30 a.m. ET in order to finish ahead of forecast thunderstorms in the late afternoon. CBS began its live coverage at 9 a.m ET/6 a.m. PT and averaged a 7.7 rating/21 share in metered-market households. 

That’s down from an 8.7 for the final round last year, and likely attributable mostly to the early start time: The final round of The Masters typically airs in the late afternoon, sometimes bleeding into primetime, when TV usage is higher.

Sunday’s live coverage peaked with a 12.1/28 from 2:15 to 2:30 p.m. as Woods was wrapping up his first major-tournament win since the 2008 U.S. Open. 

CBS says Sunday’s final round drew the highest metered-market ratings for a morning golf broadcast since at least 1986, which is as far back as the network’s records go.

The network aired an encore of the final round from 3 to 7 p.m., drawing a 3.4 household rating in metered markets. It was the third-highest preliminary rating for golf on any network so far in 2019, behind on the live coverage earlier in the day and Saturday’s third round (6.0), which was up 5 percent year to year and was the best for round three since 2015.

I wonder how long it took some viewers to realize it wasn’t the live presentation.

So how did this compare with the highest Masters (and other major ratings ? Bold red numbers display best ratings for each major. Only the Masters has attracted double-digit ratings.
YEAR MASTERS US OPEN BRITISH OPEN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
RTG VWRS RTG VWRS RTG VWRS RTG VWRS
2018 7.9 13.0M 3.2 5.1M 4.3 6.5M 5.4 8.5M
2017 6.8 11.1M 3.1 5.1M 3.2 4.9M 3.2 4.9M
2016 7.7 12.4M 3.4 5.4M 3.3 4.9M 3.4 5.3M
2015 8.7 14.0M 4.2 6.7M 2.4 3.4M 4.4 6.7M
2014 6.9 11.1M 3.0 4.6M 2.3 3.3M 5.3 8.2M
2013 9.4 14.7M 5.4 8.4M 3.1 4.4M 3.9 5.5M
2012 8.0 13.5M 6.0 9.6M 3.1 4.2M 3.4 4.9M
2011 9.5 15.3M 4.5 7.4M 2.3 3.2M 4.1 6.1M
2010 10.7 16.7M 5.8 9.3M 2.1 3.0M 4.3 6.5M
2009 8.3 14.3M 4.7 7.1M 3.8 5.5M 6.6 10.1M
2008 8.6 13.1M 7.5 12.1M 3.3 4.6M 2.8 4.0M
2007 9.1 14.9M 6.4 9.5M 3.7 5.1M 6.2 9.2M
2006 8.4 12.4M 4.7 7.0M 4.6 6.4M 7.0 10.1M
2005 9.8 14.6M 5.6 8.0M 4.6 6.0M 5.6 7.8M
2004 7.3 11.8M 5.5 8.3M 4.3 6.0M 4.4 6.3M
2003 8.3 11.7M 4.9 6.8M 4.5 5.7M 4.5 6.3M
2002 9.2 13.1M 8.9 13.1M 4.5 6.2M 7.5 10.7M
2001 13.3 19.2M 7.2 10.3M 4.5 6.3
2000 10.0 13.6M 8.1 11.3M 6.4 8.6M 8.8
1999 10.1 13.8M 6.8 9.6M 4.8 6.9
1998 10.2 15.6M 6.0 8.0M 5.0 5.7
1997 14.1 20.3M 6.8 9.2M 4.8 5.5
1996 9.2 12.4M 5.3 7.3M 3.1 3.7
1995 9.8 13.0M 5.6 7.0M 4.9 4.8