UPDATE: ESPN’s live coverage of the first and second rounds of the Masters Tournament on Thursday and Friday, April 11-12, attracted the largest two-day average viewership for the 3 p.m. ET telecasts since 2018, according to Nielsen Fast National data.
A two-day average of 3.4 million viewers watched the live coverage from Augusta National Golf Club, including 3.2 million for the first round on Thursday and 3.6 million for the second round on Friday. Both telecasts ran from 3 p.m. until approximately 8 p.m.
The audience of 3.6 million for the second round was up 69 percent over the viewership average of 2.1 million for the rain-delayed second round in 2023. Friday’s audience peaked at 3.9 million in the 5:30 p.m. quarter-hour.
EARLIER: ESPN’s live telecast of the first round of the Masters Tournament on Thursday averaged 3.2 million viewers, the highest for the first round since 2015. It represented a jump of 28% in viewership over last year’s first round.
The telecast aired from 3-8:06 p.m. ET and the audience peaked at 3.8 million in the 6:15 p.m. quarter hour.
Last year’s first round of the Masters Tournament averaged 2.5 million viewers on ESPN.
The Welcome to the Masters lead-in program averaged 594,000 viewers from 1-3 p.m. on ESPN.
For the two weekend days of the Masters, live streaming coverage of Featured Groups and Featured Holes (Holes 4, 5 and 6, Amen Corner, and Holes 15 and 16) continues on ESPN+ all day, each day of the Tournament.