By Chris Haddad – Email | Articles
On Sunday, Bubba Watson two-putted to his first Masters victory, capping a wild last round that saw the fourth-ever double eagle in a Masters round and fan-favorite Phil Mickelson triple-bogey his way out of the lead. DirecTV’s coverage and its new Mosaic screen share were big hits over the weekend and the Masters provided CBS with the top nationally-viewed show.
However, despite the exciting finish, TV ratings for the fourth round were down twenty-two percent from last year. Could the tournament organizers have done more to promote the event? The official Masters Twitter feed did not have a single update during the entire weekend. It did not even congratulate Watson for capturing the victory. In fact, it still has yet to tweet anything new as of Monday 8:30pm ET! Instead, the organizers chose to only provide updates on the Masters.com website in an apparent attempt to focus the viewership stream.
Social media has allowed fans to connect with their favorite celebrities, athletes and sporting events. Merely displaying live updates on a website (curiously listed in a Twitter-like format) provides no interaction for the audience. It is interesting to think about how the TV ratings could have been affected had the Masters provided a more inclusive feel to the broadcast.
Check Out: DirecTV Catapults Masters Coverage to Next Level
What do you think the Masters lost by choosing not to use twitter during the tournament? Chime in with a comment below.
In direct comparison to the stone age ways of Augusta, Watson himself thanked as many Twitter followers as he could this morning, all of whom had expressed well-wishes to him following his victory.