CBS Sports' coverage of the '97 Masters scored the
highest 36-market local overnight rating for any golf
tournament in history. Sunday's final-round scored a
15.8/32 rating, which was up 65% from '96's 9.6/21. The
final half-hour on Sunday earned a 22.2/40, which was CBS's
highest primetime local overnight half-hour rating in more
than three years. Final numbers will be out Thursday (CBS).
USA Network's coverage of the first two rounds of the '97
Masters drew an average 3.0 rating, an increase of 36% over
'96, establishing it as the highest 2-day coverage in USA's
16 years in covering The Masters. On Friday, USA set a
single-day golf record rating with a 3.6 (USA Network).
REACTION: CBS estimated that "as many as" 45 million
viewers tuned it to see the final round on Sunday. The
Marquee Group CEO Bob Gutkowski, on Woods impact' on golf's
TV ratings: "It will have a residue effect. How long
remains to be seen" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 4/15). CBS Sports
President Sean McManus: "Everyone in America knew Saturday
night this would be a memorable broadcast. Everyone was
talking about it" (Elliott Harris, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/15).
But McManus "cautioned against overestimating Woods'
influence on the sport's ratings." McManus: "The spike in
ratings is only going to be seen if he's in contention"
(Scott Williams, N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/15). Steve Grubbs, of
BBDO ad agency: "It shows that Tiger Woods is the best TV
since Nicklaus and Palmer in their heyday." Media buyer
Paul Schulman: "What Michael Jordan is to basketball, Tiger
is to golf and even more so" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY,
4/15). In N.Y., Starr & Wilner write that "despite the mega
ratings, neither CBS nor any other network expects the rise
in Woods' stock to translate into a gold rush. Most of the
advertising time for golf programming at CBS, NBC and ABC
has been sold out for quite some time" (N.Y. POST, 4/15).
Also in N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes that in the three-hour
telecast Sunday, Woods was in 66 of 213 camera shots,
producing about 80 minutes, 46 seconds of "Tiger Face Time."
The one-hour CBS special, "Tiger Woods: Son, Hero, and
Champion," gained a 5.6 overnight rating (N.Y. TIMES, 4/15).
