Viewership for this year's Masters Tournament dropped by 20 per cent - with Rory McIlroy linking the decrease in ratings to tensions between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf
Official viewership numbers for this year's Masters were down 20 per cent after Rory McIlroy criticised the sport for the ongoing bickering between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
However, the final round experienced a stark 20 per cent drop in viewership compared to the previous year, with CBS reporting an average viewership of 9.589 million. This marked the lowest-rated Masters since Hideki Matsuyama's victory in 2021, a sharp contrast to the opening round's surge. This places it among the least-watched Masters in over three decades, only surpassing the Covid-era years of 2020 and 2021 in viewership.
"If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20 per cent across the board. That's a fifth. That's big. I would say the numbers on LIV aren't great either in terms of the people tuning in," said McIlroy. "It's going to be really interesting to see how the four major championships do, or even the three, because put Augusta aside, I think that sort of lives in its own world."McIlroy further expressed deep concern before the Masters that the ongoing rift between LIV and the PGA Tour is not only impacting golf's overall viewership but also diminishing interest in the sport and its major championships.
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