CBS earned a pretty fancy green jacket of its own on Sunday when Tiger Woods won The Masters for the first time since 2005. It was the golfer’s first major championship victory in 11 years.
With Tiger in the hunt at golf’s most prestigious tournament, CBS’ final-round coverage posted television’s highest-rated morning golf broadcast in 34 years — dating back to pretty much the beginning of Nielsen’s electronic monitoring — with a 7.7 rating/21 share in the 56 metered markets.
Here’s the thing, though — a domestic golf tournament’s final round is usually reserved for the afternoon. This year’s final round was bumped up due to weather.
Sunday’s final round aired from 9 a.m. ET to 3 p.m. ET, with tune-in peaking (a 12.1/28) from 2:15 to 2:30.
CBS is referring to Sunday’s broadcast “morning golf” because the round — and its TV coverage — teed off before noon ET. Last year’s Masters waited for the afternoon, which is the preferred time slot due to its much higher viewing levels. It also provides a better lead-in for primetime television.
HUT (Home Using Televisions) levels were down 21 percent yesterday vs. 2018’s final round of The Masters.
Though this one didn’t top that one in TV ratings, the 34-year claim includes the Ryder Cup, the British Open and a couple of U.S. Opens on Fox.
An encore of yesterday’s final round aired from 3-7 p.m. ET on CBS, averaging a 3.4/8.