CBS finished with a 7.7 final rating and 12.4 million viewers for the final round of The Masters on Sunday, which saw Danny Willett capture his first green jacket after Jordan Spieth's collapse. Those figures are down 13% from last year's 8.7 rating and 14.0 million viewers, when Spieth captured his first Masters title. However, the audience is up 12% from a 6.8 rating and 11.0 million viewers for Bubba Watson's win in '14. CBS on Sunday peaked at a 9.3 rating and 15.6 million viewers from 6:30-7:00pm ET. The tourney ran until 7:30pm, helping CBS to a primetime win on Sunday (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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THE MASTERS: FINAL ROUND AUDIENCE TREND ON CBS
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YEAR
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WINNER
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RATING
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VIEWERS
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TIGER
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'16
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Danny Willett
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7.7
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12,398
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DNP
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'15
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Jordan Spieth
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8.7
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14,000
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17t
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'14
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Bubba Watson
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6.8
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10,970
|
DNP
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|
'13*
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Adam Scott
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9.4
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14,700
|
4t
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'12*^
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Bubba Watson
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8.0
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13,500
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40t
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'11
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Charl Schwartzel
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9.5
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15,257
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4t
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'10
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Phil Mickelson
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10.7
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16,676
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4t
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'09*^
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Angel Cabrera
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8.3
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14,303
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6t
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'08
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Trevor Immelman
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8.6
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13,148
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2
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'07^
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Zach Johnson
|
9.1
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14,941
|
2t
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|
|
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CHART NOTES: * = Ended in playoff. ^ = Aired on Easter Sunday.
18 & LIFE: GOLF DIGEST's Peter McCleery wrote CBS commentators throughout its weekend Masters coverage spent "much of their time pulling in and deferring" to 18th-hole analyst Nick Faldo, "to a fault." Even in the "most innocuous situations, Faldo was summoned for his input." Faldo had his "share of shrewd comments" about Jordan Spieth’s tendencies, but it "all got to be a bit much." Analyst Dottie Pepper "turned in a solid performance after nervously stumbling twice Thursday over who was leading the tournament." CBS missed David Feherty’s "lively spirit on the shows." McCleery: "Thank goodness they still have the old pro Verne Lundquist, who provided valuable background on Willett being the 'son of a preacher man'" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 4/11). SNY's Jon Hein said “what had to kill CBS” during the fourth round coverage of The Masters as “this is all coming to a conclusion, Willett’s in the cabin charging his iPhone … and waiting for this magical shot at the end and then he looks up, ‘I guess I won.’” Hein: “Not exactly that Jim Nantz call that you expected to see at The Masters” (“Loud Mouths,” SNY, 4/11).
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Overnight data from Numeris confirmed that Canadian audiences for The Masters on CTV, TSN and RDS were up 10% compared to last year's tournament. More than 1.5 million viewers -- 704,000 on TSN; 585,000 on CTV; 242,000 on RDS -- watched Sunday's final round (Bell Media).
