Viewership for the 2024 Masters Tournament slipped on CBS as Scottie Scheffler rolled his way to his second Masters win in three tournaments.
The final round, which finished with Scheffler beating Ludvig Aberg by four strokes, averaged 9.589 million viewers. That’s down from last year’s final round, which averaged 12.06 million viewers, and ranked ahead of just the 2020 and 2021 final rounds in the all-time viewership ranks.
Last year’s final round took place on Easter Sunday, leading to a much stronger bump in out-of-home (OOH) viewership. Last year’s final round saw a 21% bump thanks to OOH, while this year’s only increased by 9%.
The final two rounds on CBS averaged 8.210 million viewers, down from both 2022 and 2023, but (like the final round) up from the 2021 tournament.
The disappointing conclusion to the tournament on CBS comes after ESPN’s coverage drew strong increases for the first two days. Thursday’s first round averaged 3.2 million viewers, the most-watched first round since 2015, and the second round averaged 3.6 million viewers. Combined, the first two rounds were the most-watched since 2018.
On Sunday, there wasn’t much drama late, which didn’t help the final round’s viewership. Double bogeys knocked potential contenders Aberg, Max Homa, and Collin Morikawa out of the running, and Scheffler was never seriously threatened on the back nine.
Next year might be a somewhat similar story. Easter falls a week after the Masters in 2025, and there again likely won’t be a significant OOH bump. If the tournament is competitive going into the final round, maybe the Masters will avoid the middling numbers drawn this year.
[Data via Sports Media Watch]
