Sunday’s playoff at the Masters paid off for CBS.
The dramatic finish helped boost the Nielsen ratings for the network’s coverage of the Masters’ final round to an average of 10.2 in the nation’s metered markets, up 26 percent from 8.1 for the previous year’s final round, which also went to a playoff.
As Australia’s Adam Scott and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera battled for two extra holes Sunday, the rating spiked to 13.4 from 7-7:30 p.m. in the metered markets.
In the Atlanta market, the interest was even stronger, with the audience growing steadily throughout the afternoon and peaking at a 17.6 rating — about 410,000 metro-area households — for Scott’s victory.
Overall, the telecast of the final round garnered an average rating of 11.6 in Atlanta.
Nationally, Saturday’s third round posted a 6.3 rating, up 24 percent from last year’s 5.1.
The rating is the percentage of households with television sets that are tuned in to a program on average. The metered markets, which produce overnight ratings, include the nation’s 56 largest markets. Masters ratings typically are the highest of the year for golf on U.S. television.
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