The Masters has viewers hooked, any way you slice it

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Early ratings from ESPN’s first-round coverage of the Masters golf tournament indicate interest is high. According to what is called the ‘fast national’ ratings taken from 2,749,000 homes and 3,366,000 viewers, the 3 1/2-hour live telecast that began at 1 p.m. PT Thursday drew a 2.8 rating, which was up 27% over last year in ratings and 38% in viewers.

Among what ESPN calls its ‘key demographic’ -- male viewers ages 18 to 49 -- ratings were up 31%. I know, we women watch too. Maybe ESPN can come up with a name for us as well: ‘low-key demographic,’ ‘keyless demographic,’ something anyway. I’d kind of like to be measured!

But where ESPN saw big jumps in ratings was in its live, streaming coverage on ESPN360.com. Those ratings more than tripled -- a 208% increase in total hours viewed as well as a 28% increase in total streams, and an average time spent by people streaming their video to nearly an hour (57 minutes), more than double from last year. Are any of you in the key male demographic doing any work on those computers in the office?

-- Diane Pucin