ESPN's Friday Masters Rating: 2.1

Up over 2014 but McIlroy, Mickelson and Crenshaw's last were not quite as watched as Thursday's return of Woods.

For Immediate Release:

ESPN’s live telecast of the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 10, earned a 2.1 U.S. household rating, averaging 2.952 million viewers, according to fast national data from Nielsen Media. The telecast aired from 3-7:30 p.m. ET.
 
The rating and viewership rose from last year’s second round telecast, which earned a 1.8 rating and averaged 2.465 million viewers.
 
The Friday telecast completed ESPN’s two days of live Masters coverage, with both days seeing ratings and audience growth over 2014. The Thursday telecast was ESPN’s highest-rated and most-viewed first round coverage in five years, earning a 2.2 rating and averaging 3.218 million viewers.
 
Over the two days of Masters telecasts, ESPN averaged a 2.2 U.S. household rating and 3.081 million viewers, both up from last year’s averages of a 1.6 rating and 2.235 million viewers.
 
ESPN’s two-day coverage of the Masters on WatchESPN across platforms reached 201,000 unique viewers that spent 9 million total minutes watching live, up 230 percent and 146 percent compared to 2013. Across all ESPN digital platforms, Masters content drew an average minute audience of 16,000 for the two days, up 79 percent.

Update on 2015-04-12 13:47 by Geoff

**Golf Channel is having its best Masters week ever.

Week to date, Golf Channel’s Masters Week coverage, including Golf Central’s Live From the Masters and Morning Drive, is the Highest-Rated Masters Week on record for Golf Channel, +39% vs. 2014 and +2% vs. 2013 (Total Day, Metered Market Overnights)

Golf Channel was the Most-Watched Sports Network from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Thursday with Golf Central Live From the Masters coverage (508,000 average viewers across 7 hours of coverage, +38% YOY)

Golf Channel was the Most-Watched Sports Network from 2-3 p.m. ET on Wednesday with Golf Central Live From the Masters coverage, leading into the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National

GolfChannel.com is posting its highest traffic ever for a Masters Week (Mon-Fri); including 14.9 million Site Page Views +115% vs. 2014; 1.56 million Site Unique Visitors +70% vs. 2014; and 491K Video Starts +98% vs. 2014.

Best Masters Week Friday for GolfChannel.com and Golf Channel Mobile for all key metrics and the most daily page views on GolfChannel.com ever.

On Friday at 1 PM, GolfChannel.com already set its record for Page Views after only 4.5 days with more than 12.3 million, which was the record set in 2013 for the entire 7 days.

Golf Channel Mobile drew more than 9.38 million Page Views, +59% vs. 2014, 289K Unique Visitors +12% vs. 2014; and 151K Video Starts +13% vs. 2014.

Video: The J.B. Holmes Chip-In on 18

He missed the cut but J.B. Holmes left Augusta National with a nice memory at least.

One of the better holed out shots from off a green in some time:

The Media Really Liked Jordan Spieth Thursday Morning

The Augusta Chronicle's always superb coverage at Augusta.com included their traditional poll of the writers. This year 26 picked Jordan Spieth to win, more than double the number who thought Rory McIlroy would capture the 2015 Masters. Note the other findings from Scott Michaux's polling of the scribery.

And they really like him after a record-setting 36 at Augusta National.

Steve DiMeglio in the USA Today:

Spieth's total of 130 ties the lowest total after the opening 36 holes in the history of major championships. Martin Kaymer in the 2014 U.S. Open, Brandt Snedeker in the 2012 British Open and Nick Faldo in the 1992 British Open also shot 130.

Further, Spieth equaled the largest lead after 36 holes in tournament history, joining Herman Keiser in 1946, Jack Nicklaus in 1975 and Floyd in '76 as the only players to hold a 5-shot advantage after two rounds.

Keiser, Nicklaus and Floyd all went on to win.

Spieth's second round 66 in three minutes, as Tweeted by The Masters account:

Watch @JordanSpieth's round in under three minutes. #themasters https://t.co/WF5DHhiHNc

— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 10, 2015