What's the reason behind Masters' sharp decline in TV ratings? There might be several reasons
So, have they finally killed the goose that laid the golden egg?
That would be a legitimate question for golf fans after CBS announced this week that ratings for the Masters were down 20 percent from last year. That’s about the same decrease reported for most PGA Tour events this year.
After months and months of listening to fans who were turning away from pro golf, citing the ongoing split in the game between the PGA Tour and LIV, and after listening to those fans say they might watch the majors but not actual PGA Tour events, the Masters numbers were disappointing.
Even just matching last year’s numbers would have been good, but instead viewership fell below 10 million viewers for one of the biggest events of the year. CBS reported that an average of 9.59 million viewers tuned in to Scottie Scheffler’s Sunday victory. For comparison sake, the NCAA women's basketball championship game between South Carolina and the University of Iowa averaged about 18.7 million viewers
On the other hand, ESPN reported its viewership for Thursday and Friday was up from 2023.
So has the fight between PGA Tour and LIV, and the duration of the fight, actually broken the game somehow? Are the fans who have left now unlikely to come back, even with PGA Tour and LIV players competing in the same event?
More: Did 2022 American Express tournament turn Scottie Scheffler's career around?
Undoubtedly that is part of the issue with the decline in Masters ratings. But there could be some other issues, too.
For instance:
The lack of Tiger
CBS didn’t have a chance to show Tiger Woods on Sunday because Woods was so far back that his Sunday round was finished by the time the CBS broadcast started. Say what you want about Woods and his play these days, but he still attracts fans.
Other platforms
The Masters app is so good, so full of live golf content that it surely steals viewers from the traditional CBS broadcast. With feature groups that show almost every shot of a player, fans can track one of their favorite golfers without the interruptions of CBS trying to show as many golfers in contention as it can. Paramount Plus viewers could watch the major championship as well.
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler is without question the best golfer in the world at the moment. But for all of his brilliant iron play and vastly improved putting, Scheffler hasn’t necessarily lit a fire under golf fans of the world. It seems there is a greater appreciation for Scheffler and his two Masters titles now than in the last few years, but does that translate to big ratings when he is in contention?
The lack of LIV players
Yes, Bryson DeChambeau shot 65 in the opening round, and Cam Smith played well enough to move into the top 10. But for the most part, the LIV golfers were non-factors at the Masters this year. Defending champion Jon Rahm was 20 strokes out of first place in his first major as a LIV member, as was five-time major winner Brooks Koepka. Phil Mickelson, who tied for second with Koepka in 2023, was never a factor this year, and neither was Sergio Garcia. If fans were waiting to see the LIV golfers in action, they didn’t get much of a chance. And maybe CBS wasn’t going to show much of those golfers anyway except for DeChambeau, who was in the thick of the competition until Sunday.
The fight goes on
Perhaps it would help draw some fans back to the game on television if there was something indicating the game will be unified in the coming weeks or months. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. There have been a series of meetings and talk of “heading in the right direction” and “making progress,” but no one is saying a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Trust is imminent. So the battle goes on, and fans who find the greed of the battle a turnoff may well continue to turn off their television sets.
As the PGA Tour moves back to regular and signature events and the LIV golfers head off to their schedule with two tournaments in Australia and Singapore in the next three weeks, television ratings aren’t likely to improve for either tour. That on the heels of disappointing Masters numbers should make it more important than ever to get a deal done between the two tours.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Masters TV ratings take sharp decline for several reasons
