Often called “a tradition unlike any other,” the Masters golf tournament has a non-traditional media partner this year.
For the first time, Amazon Prime Video will stream two hours of early round live coverage from Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday and Friday (10 a.m. Pacific) ahead of ESPN’s telecasts on cable and its streaming platform. CBS will carry the final two rounds over the weekend as it has since 1956, while the network’s streaming platform Paramount+ will have two hours of early coverage on those days.
Amazon’s piece of the Masters came after years of talks the company conducted with Augusta National while building its portfolio of live sports events which include the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package, the NBA and NASCAR in the U.S. and Champions League Soccer and Wimbledon tennis in international markets.
Live sports rights are expensive — Amazon did not disclose what it’s paying for the Masters — but the biggest events guarantee large audiences, making them less risky than high-priced investments in scripted movies and TV series.
The Masters is the favorite week of golf enthusiasts and, similar to the Super Bowl, attracts casual fans as well. Last year, the final round on Sunday averaged 12.7 million viewers on CBS according to Nielsen, the highest since 2018.
The audience level peaked in the 7 p.m. Eastern half hour when 19.5 million viewers watched Rory McIlroy win his first green jacket after topping Justin Rose in a playoff following 18 holes. The triumph was a highly emotional conclusion to the ongoing drama of McIlroy’s pursuit of a career grand slam with victories at all four of golf’s major tournaments.
Augusta National takes special care to preserve the timeless experience of watching the best golfers in the world come together on the legendary course that first hosted the event in 1934. On-site fans, or patrons as they are called, are not permitted to have mobile phones.
But the folks running Augusta National are not Luddites. The Masters web site and app — developed by longtime tournament sponsor IBM — provides video of every shot. This year, the digital platform added a video vault that provides access to final round shots from 1968 to 2025.
Augusta National has tight control over the site and its content. But expanding coverage on Amazon recognizes the need to reach new generations of fans who are streaming-first in their viewing habits.
“Younger audiences have different expectations of how sports should be consumed,” said Tim Hanlon, chief executive of The Vertere Group a media industry consulting and advisory firm. “They are accustomed to flexibility, immediacy, and platform ubiquity. By those standards, the Masters has often appeared restrained, even stubbornly so.”
The TV deals for the Masters are known for having controlling restrictions. The networks carrying the tournament are limited to four commercial minutes per hour to enhance the viewing experience.
Amazon is adhering to those same rules in its presentation, while adding the data-driven analysis it has used in other sports coverage. Jared Stacy, vice president of global live sports production for Amazon, said in a recent interview that his team will maintain the understated tone of the Masters.
“I think we see the world a lot in the same way of really being respectful of the tradition of what the Masters is, but also being willing to innovate,” Stacy said.
Amazon has been careful to make longtime sports fans comfortable as more events move to Prime Video. The hiring of veteran sportscaster Al Michaels to handle “Thursday Night Football” immediately created a comfort zone for NFL viewers.
Prime Video coverage of the Masters will go “Inside Amen Corner.”
(Prime Video)
Stacy is applying the same formula to the Masters as Amazon has tapped golf legend Jack Nicklaus for guest commentary, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of his last victory at the event. Terry Gannon, a familiar face from the Golf Channel, will lead the coverage.
Amazon is expanding on the feature that has become the most popular element of the Masters web site by providing a continuous feed of the action throughout the weekend at Amen Corner, the famously challenging stretch of holes at Augusta National. It will provide hardcore golf fans with advanced stats and golf swing analysis.
As part of the buildup to the Masters coverage, Prime Video debuted “Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait” on March 30, a documentary on the popular golfer’s journey to his 2025 win. Additional programming matters to sports media partners as evidenced by the shout-out the project received from Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley at his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
“This film exemplifies Amazon’s dedication to bringing premium golf content to audiences worldwide,” Ridley said. “We look forward to a long relationship with Prime Video.”
While the limitations Augusta National has put on its coverage have helped make the Masters a distinctive sporting event, the rabid golf fan believes more is better.
“The mystique isn’t threatened by having more eyeballs on it,” said Bo McBrayer, co-host of the BettingPros golf podcast. “I wish I could watch every golfer hit every shot on demand, even more so at the Masters.”
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