ESPN rode the wave of Friday’s superstar-laden leaderboard at Round 2 of the Masters to some hefty audience numbers, but they fell significantly short of the same time period a year ago.
The second-round Masters telecast by the Worldwide Leader averaged 3.2 million viewers during its 3 – 7:45 p.m. ET spot, thanks to late-day surges on the back nine by the likes of Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day.
The 3.2 million number represents a 700,000 drop from the 3.9 million who tuned into the second round on ESPN last year. Both telecasts featured Woods. All numbers are based on Nielsen Fast National data.
MASTERS: Saturday’s Tiger Tracker | Leaderboard
Tournament play Friday was halted by a weather delay from 5:05-5:34 p.m. ET. The ratings numbers do not include those who tuned into the delay, which may have impacted the size of the TV audience.
ESPN’s coverage was also interrupted by a “truck transmission issue” and briefly went to black briefly, expediting a commercial break. That issue did not impact coverage on the assorted online Masters feeds.
Here’s a look at the top 10 ratings in overnight metered markets:
- Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. (5.0)
- Ft. Myers/Naples, Fla. (4.7)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (4.2)
- Raleigh-Durham (4.1)
- Buffalo (3.7)
- Indianapolis (3.4)
- Columbus (3.4)
- Cincinnati (3.4)
- Tampa-St. Petersburg (3.3)
- West Palm Beach (3.3)
