ESPN Has Highest-Ever Friday Masters Ratings, Audience

With an average of 4.2 million people watching, ESPN's live telecast of the 2013 Masters Tournament on Friday, April 12, was the highest-rated and most-viewed Friday coverage for the event on ESPN and the fourth-largest audience ever to watch golf on cable.

According to fast national data from the Nielsen Company, ESPN's telecast earned a 3.5 household coverage rating, surpassing the previous Friday coverage record of 3.3 set in 2010 and matched last year. The rating grew six percent from last year.

And just as with the telecast of Thursday's opening round, ESPN on Friday had double-digit increases in younger demographics, with a 25 percent jump in the Male 18-34 category and an 20 percent rise in the overall 18-34 demographic.

The viewership record average of 4.2 million for Friday's coverage of second round Masters play was up four percent from the previous record average of 4.1 million for last year's event.

The viewership for the 2013 Friday telecast ranks fourth all-time for golf audiences on cable, exceeded only by ESPN's coverage of Thursday play in the 2010 Masters (4.9 million when Tiger Woods made his return to golf), ESPN's telecast of the 2008 U.S. Open playoff (4.8 million) and ESPN's telecast of the final round of The Open Championship in 2012 (4.227 million).

ESPN's two-day average rating for the Masters was a 2.9, an increase of four percent from last year's 2.8, while the average viewership for the two days was also up four percent from 3.4 million in 2012 to 3.5 million in 2013. The two-day viewership average was ESPN's second-highest for the Masters, exceeded only by 4.4 million for Woods' return in 2010.

The ESPN 3D Network will have a live telecast of the final round of the Masters on Sunday from 4-7 p.m. ET while SportsCenter and ESPN.com will continue to report from the Masters throughout the weekend.