The Masters App Is Now Showing Commercials & Fans Are Starting To Notice

There aren't many commercials being shown on the Masters app, but they're here and people are just starting to notice this big pivot from the tournament. 

During Thursday's "Featured Groups" coverage, commercial blocks were 100% shown to viewers using the free app because I was one of those viewers. Were the ads ridiculous like network television? No, but the tournament that prided itself on a commercial-free app appears to have pivoted for the first time in the digital content era. 

"The Masters app is the future of sports viewing; all coverage, no commercials. And free!" a Masters fan wrote on Twitter in the spring of 2024. 

That all changed during Thursday's first round. I wasn't the only one who noticed. 

On Friday, during the 11 a.m. coverage block on the "Featured Group" channel, the app showed one block of commercials from 11-11:30. Then, at 11:37, another block of commercials featuring IBM, Mercedes and AT&T were shown. 

Why is The Masters now showing commercials on its app?

Because it can. 

In a 2022 report from Forbes, the outlet noted that, at the time, The Masters organizers were deliberately leaving money on the table from broadcast partners who would love nothing more than to bring in all sorts of branding and spread it all over the course. 

"Augusta National wants to keep the mystique and uniqueness surrounding the tournament in place, including keeping the course itself as pristine as possible. The four majors are different from all other PGA Tour events, and within that the Masters is completely different from the other three majors," Peter Laatz, an executive at IEG who handles sponsorships, told Forbes. 

At the time, the tournament had six sponsors. Television commercials were split up into four minutes per hour of coverage. ESPN and CBS, as they do now, handled the tournament production. 

Is it the end of the world that The Masters app is now showing commercials?

Let's face it, in a day and age where you have to submit all sorts of tracking information to use an app, the Masters app is still one of the final places where you can watch a massive sporting event for free without entering any information at all. 

Yes, the app is on your phone and the Masters IT team probably knows what you ate for lunch, but it's not some app that's begging you to buy some stupid t-shirt or a trinket. 

If we have to watch three 15-second commercials to keep this app great, then sign me up. Just don't junk up this tournament. Keep CBS and ESPN sales teams out for as long as possible.