Tiger At The Masters Delivers For ESPN

I’m away from my computer, but I want to get this up right away. I’ve been waiting for this press release since this morning and its finally come in. I believe ESPN was waiting for the final numbers and they are indeed in.

The numbers for the 1st round of The Masters are astounding and ESPN executives have to be doing backflips in Bristol, CT as the interest in Tiger Woods’ return was quite high.

We’re talking the highest cable audience ever for a golf event and this is the 1st round! To say the ratings were good is like saying a shark likes to eat. Holy frijoles!

Check out the release. I’ll clean this up when I get to my computer.

Masters Delivers Most-Viewed Golf Telecast in Cable History

ESPN’s live coverage of the 2010 Masters Tournament on Thursday, April 12 (4-7:38 p.m. ET), generated an average of 4,936,000 viewers (based on fast nationals) to become the most-viewed golf telecast in cable history. The telecast surpassed the 2008 U.S. Open Championship playoff held Monday, June 16, 2008 (4,762,000 viewers), when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on ESPN.

Thursday’s first round of the tournament posted a 4.0 fast national household coverage rating and 3,931,000 household impressions, both ranking second to the 2008 U.S. Open Championship playoff (4.2 rating; 4,056,000 households).

The 4,936,000 viewers represent a 47 percent increase over last year’s comparable Thursday coverage (3,366,000 viewers). The corresponding household rating (4.0 vs. 2.8 in 2009) and household impressions (3,931,000 vs. 2,749,000 last year) were up 43 percent.

Compared to 2008, this year’s Thursday coverage was up 102 percent in viewers (2,447,000 viewers), 89 percent in households (2,081,000 impressions) and 82 percent in household rating (2.2).

Live coverage of the Masters Tournament on ESPN3.com led to a nearly nine-fold increase – 787 percent among unique viewers over last year’s first round.

Tiger’s First Tee Shot on SportsCenter

Based on overnight ratings from the metered markets, SportsCenter’s live show on Thursday from 1-2 p.m. – which included live coverage of Tiger Woods’ first tee shot at 1:42 p.m. – averaged a 0.8 rating. The 0.8 rating more than doubled last year’s rating for the same one-hour window (0.3). SportsCenter’s live coverage from 1:30-1:45 p.m. delivered a 1.1 overnight rating, up 267 percent over the same time period last year (0.3).

Amazing stuff. Back later.

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