The Masters remains golf’s highest-rated event. But the overall share of golf television viewers continues to shrink, and even the Masters isn’t immune to that decline.
The ratings for the full Masters week are now out and the 2024 version is the lowest since the COVID-affected years of 2020 and 2021. There was a brief moment where four players shared the lead at the 2024 Masters, but Scottie Scheffler took care of business quickly enough and strolled to what qualifies as an “easy” Masters victory – a four-stroke triumph that was in no doubt for most of the back nine.
Perhaps as a result, Sunday’s final round averaged 9.59 million viewers on CBS, according to Sports Media Watch, down 22.8% from last year’s 12.06 million. Scheffler’s win two years ago averaged 10.17 million viewers. Worth noting: Sunday’s final round was down 20 percent from last year’s win by Jon Rahm, but last year’s final round fell on Easter Sunday, which made for a significantly higher out-of-home percentage of viewers – 21 percent in 2023, as opposed to 9 percent this year.
Last Sunday’s Masters had a peak viewership of 12.56 million viewers. This ranks as the least-watched Masters since 1993. But on the glass-half-full side, Sunday’s final round ranked ahead of four of the most recent five World Series games, and every past Daytona 500 by seven, according to Sports Media Watch year.
Scheffler’s victory continued a trend of relatively drama-free Masters. At every Masters since Sergio Garcia’s 2017 playoff victory, the eventual winner has had the outright lead at the final hole. And at every Masters since Patrick Reed’s one-shot victory in 2018, the eventual winner has had a two-stroke lead. There is only so much whispering about the beauty of the course and the history of the Masters that viewers are willing to endure when the back nine is a coronation and not a battle.
Scheffler in particular seems disconnected from the fans, even though his excellence is clear: he has won his two green vests by a combined lead of seven strokes. Scheffler’s genius is currently unparalleled, his magnetism slightly less so.
Golf’s ratings have fallen sharply at all tournaments this season, and many observers saw the Masters as confirmation of the idea that ratings have fallen as many major personalities have left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. But it’s also possible that the Masters’ decline reflects how many fans are in the hell-with-all viewer block.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley spoke about the decline in ratings earlier this week. While he didn’t directly point the finger at the LIV-PGA Tour split, he suggested it could be a factor.
“The fact that the best players in the world don’t meet that often certainly doesn’t help,” Ridley said. “I don’t know whether there is a direct causal effect. But I think it would be a lot nicer if they were together more often.”
And maybe also if there were some more competitive last Sundays.
