CBS averaged 14 million viewers on Sunday for Rory McIlroy’s win in the Masters, the best viewership total for the final round in 11 years, dating to the same figure for Jordan Spieth’s win in 2015. CBS was up 8% from the final round of McIlroy’s first win last year (13 million). This was the first year in which the Masters had the benefit of Nielsen Big Data and full out-of-home measurement.
Sunday peaked at just more than 20 million viewers as McIlroy became only the fourth player ever to win back-to-back green jackets. The peak was the largest for the event since 2013, as McIlroy held off some big names like Scottie Scheffler and Justin Rose, who was last year’s runner-up. CBS averaged 8.1 million viewers for Saturday’s third round, its highest figure in seven years.
Earlier in the week, ESPN averaged 3.1 million viewers for the first two rounds of the event, which is ESPN’s best figure for Thursday/Friday since 2022 as McIlroy raced out to a six-stroke 36-hole lead. That’s up 16% from last year. Friday’s second round averaged 3.5 million, up 14% from 2025, while Thursday’s first round averaged 2.7 million (+19%). Those increases came after ESPN on Wednesday saw its second-best figure on record for the Masters Par 3 Contest.
The viewership figures for CBS are a positive note to cap the tournament following widespread criticism for how the network handled coverage over the weekend.
Tiger Woods’ win in 2019 averaged nearly 11 million viewers, though that final round was pushed earlier in the day because of the threat of storms in the Augusta area.
