The Masters TV Ratings Were Down 20%, But What Does it Mean?

The Nielsen report card for the 2024 Masters tournament is in, and the result is a mixed bag.

Sunday’s final round on CBS was down more than 20% from the previous year, with 9.589 million viewers tuning in compared to 2023’s average of 12.06 million on Sunday, which also included some of round three in the rain-delayed event of a year ago.

Golf viewership continues to drop: CBS drew 9.589M viewers for the final round of the Masters on Sunday, down 20% from last year.

Scottie Scheffler’s four-shot win was the second-largest deficit of the season.

Lowest final round since 2021 (9.450M for Hideki Matsuyama’s win) pic.twitter.com/gZsrJ1ZUam

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 16, 2024

All told, it was the third-lowest Sunday Masters rating on record, trailing the 2020 (which was played in the fall that year due to COVID-19) and 2021 editions.

But while many will point to decreased interest in men’s pro golf – most PGA Tour events have been down a similar 20% in 2024 – the drop in viewership can also be attributed to the leaderboard.

Leading up to the event, Masters Chairman Fred Ridley spoke about the viewership trends while the men’s pro golf world is splintered between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

“Certainly the fact that the best players in the world are not convening very often is not helpful,” Ridley said last week.

“Whether or not there’s a direct causal effect, I don’t know. But I think that it would be a lot better if they were together more often.”

Defending #RBCHeritage champion Matt Fitzpatrick was asked about the decline in ratings at #TheMasters:

“I am surprised by that, to be fair. Obviously you’ve got everyone playing together, like everyone wants, and the viewership’s down. But, yeah, it’s bizarre,” Fitzpatrick… pic.twitter.com/MUL027qKOS

— Jack Milko (@jack_milko) April 16, 2024

In 2023, there was a duel for much of the afternoon between Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, two of golf’s bigger names and – at the time – one repped the PGA Tour and the other was playing under the LIV Golf flag.

This year, Scottie Scheffler ran away with the title on the back nine, and while runner-up (and Augusta rookie) Ludvig Aberg is a tremendous talent, he’s not a household name.

Collin Morikawa and Max Homa dropped out of contention before they even reached Amen Corner.

Embed from Getty Images

In addition, ESPN is reporting huge gains from its telecasts of the opening two rounds on Thursday and Friday. The network said it had the highest Thursday viewership in nine years, and Friday’s second round was up 69% from a year ago.

The difference in Friday coverage can be attributed to Tiger Woods, who was playing in ESPN’s broadcast window this year.

So, one can conclude that golf has two problems – one old and one new.

The old one is that no one outside of Woods has been able to draw a large audience for decades now. And the new problem of having many of the world’s best golfers playing on a tour that’s unfamiliar to many casual golf viewers.

Cover Image via X