CBS' 'Masters,' With Tiger Woods, Returns To High Pre-Pandemic Viewing Levels

With Tiger Woods' surprise return to playing professional golf, as well as being competitive early on, CBS’ airing of the final round of “The Masters” scored 10.2 million Nielsen-measured viewers.

It was the highest-rated golf event since 2019, when Tiger Woods won "The Masters" for the fifth time.

Woods was playing competitively for the first time since a horrific car accident in Los Angeles in February 2021, in which he sustained a compound fracture to one leg in addition to other injuries.

Higher viewership also came with Woods in the two initial rounds played on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday he was within just a few shots of the leader on the day. ESPN, which aired the first two days of the event, witnessed strong results, averaging 3.3 million viewers -- the highest for the network in four years.

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In 2019 -- a pre-pandemic year -- Woods won his fifth "Masters" title after a long drought at the top of a major championship. Nielsen ratings for the final round on Sunday averaged 10.8 million.

Major TV advertisers for the event included IBM, Mercedes-Benz, AT&T, Meijer, Calm, Heineken, Chick-fil-A, and Make-A-Wish, according to iSpot, pulling in some $26.0 million in national TV advertising spend.

2 comments about "CBS' 'Masters,' With Tiger Woods, Returns To High Pre-Pandemic Viewing Levels".
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  1. Darrin Stephens from McMann & Tate, April 14, 2022 at 10:23 a.m.

    The only national advertisers in The Masters are IBM, Mercedes and AT&T.  It's been that way for over a decade. It calls into question iSpot's methodology.

  2. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 14, 2022 at 10:31 a.m.

    They may be counting local spots in the station breaks, Darrin.

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