3.37: 2020 Masters Ratings Fall In Fall

With a 10 a.m. ET final round start to clear room for the Bills-Cardinals, the 2020 Masters recorded a 3.37 final round rating with an average of 5.58 million viewers. That’s down over four points from the epic 2019’s Masters (7.7/10.8 million average) won by Tiger Woods (which also started and ended earlier than normal, but was played in April).

ShowbuzzDaily.com’s Mitch Metzcalf with all of the numbers, including Saturday’s 3.05 rating. 2019’s Saturday telecast drew a 5.5.

While this is undoubtedly the lowest rated Masters since numbers were tabulated, weekday coverage on ESPN did not see such extreme declines, drawing an average of 2.2 million Thursday and almost 2.8 million Friday.

Friday’s telecast was the top rated cable show.

Two other ratings notes from Michael McCarthy, veteran media reporter:

The sports TV rating slump is hurting #Masters too. With the tournament moved seven months from it's normal April slot, ESPN's 2nd round coverage Friday averaged 2.6 million viewers per Nielsen Fast National #'s. That's down 21% from 3.3. million for last year's 2nd round (1/2)

— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) November 14, 2020

But ESPN's average #Masters TV audiences increased 18% to 2.6 million for Round 2 from 2.2 million for 1st round per Nielsen Fast National #'s. Friday's audience peaked at 2.9 million with Tiger + Bryson on course. Also, this year's coverage aired earlier than last year.

— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) November 14, 2020

Despite the 3.37 drop from a 7.7, this still earns the Masters atop the list of top golf broadcasts in 2019 to edge August’s PGA Championship. That event, played in east coast prime time, drew a 3.2 and peaked at 6.8 million viewers for Collin Morikawa’s win. The U.S. Open’s final round 1.9 on NBC made it the lowest rated of the three majors played this year.