CBSSports.com said it saw twice as many unique visitors watch the opening day of Masters coverage online as it did a year ago, perhaps reflecting the voyeuristic nature of this year's event with the return of Tiger Woods, whose off course escapades during the past year have drawn arguably more attention that his prowess on the putting green, and it's certainly diversified his audience.
Nonetheless, the numbers were brilliant, with Day 1 seeing 556,090 UVs compared to 239,013 in 2009. Actual video consumed also was up substantially to 392,901 hours from 230,004 a year ago, an increase of 71 percent.
Continuing on message, CBS said the average viewer's time streaming also increased. The 17.48 minutes of live and VOD consumed was up 20 percent from the 14.63 minutes of a year ago.
Woods is in the first featured group today (with K.J. Choi and Matt Kuchar), and CBSSports.com will offer live coverage from the 10th hole on through the finish at 18.
At that point, Masters Live will show each and every shot for the entire pairing as they play Hole Nos. 10-18 (as of 1 p.m., they were still on the front nine and Woods was even). Friday online, you also can watch:
- Featured Group: 12:00 Noon - 7:30 p.m. ET
- Amen Corner Live: 10:45 AM - 5:45 p.m. ET
- 15 & 16 Live: 11:45 AM - 6:45 p.m. ET
- Masters Extra: 3:00 PM - 4:00 p.m. ET
CBS starts its broadcast coverage at 4 p.m. ET. You can watch the play here.