Serena Williams’ farewell to the US Open is a ratings blessing for ESPN

New York Serena Williams’ long farewell to the US Open was a boon to ESPN.

Faced with the prospect of a first-round knockout, Williams instead presented the sports network with four nights of prime-time programming last week, with its ending. Losing to Ajla Tomljanovic Reaching the largest audience at any tennis match in ESPN’s 43-year history.

ESPN quickly adjusted it, asking Open officials to move Williams’ husbands’ game with sister Venus to Thursday night, and to move the college football game off its main network on Friday to make way for the match with Tomljanovic.

Friday’s game reached 4.8 million viewers, Nielsen said, peaking at 6.9 million. He beat the previous record holder, the 3.9 million people who watched the 2012 Wimbledon men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

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“We knew it was going to be a huge story,” John Suchinsky, ESPN’s director of programming, said Wednesday. “I’m not sure we knew how much it was going to happen, from an audience point of view. We’re obviously happy with the numbers.”

Williams defeated Danka Kovinic in the first round Last Monday, along with the post-match party, 2.7 million people watched last Monday, Nielsen said, 289% more than coverage of a similar first round in 2021. Wednesday Victory over Annette Kontaveit It reached 2.3 million. On Thursday, the sister’s average turnover, the first time ESPN has featured a prime-time doubles match, was 2.2 million.

Suchinsky said he hopes a “halo effect” will boost the open ratings for the second week lower than Williams, but ESPN is aware of the reality.

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“The first week was the Serena Open,” tennis analyst John McEnroe said during Sunday’s coverage. “Now it’s the US Open.”

Among broadcast networks last week, ABC took the lead with an average of 4.2 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 2.63 million, CBS 2.56 million, Fox 1.6 million, Univision 1.1 million, Ion Television 1 million and Telemundo 860,000.

ESPN led all cable networks with an average of 2.58 million, Fox News 2.1 million, MSNBC 1.36 million, HGTV 870,000, and the US 842,000.

The “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” livestream It reached an estimated 1.8 million American households last weekend, according to Samba TV. The research firm said this was the biggest appearance of Amazon Prime this year.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news rating race with 7.2 million viewers last week, Nielsen said. NBC’s “Nightley News” earned 6 million and CBS Evening News 4.1 million.

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For the week of August 29 – September. 4, The 20 most watched prime-time shows, their networks and viewership:

1. College Football: Notre Dame at Ohio State, ABC, 10.53 million.

2. College Football: Florida St. at LSU, ABC, 7.55 million.

3. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday) NBC 6.36 million.

4. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday) NBC 5.48 million.

5. 60 minutes CBS 5.12 million.

6. US Open (Friday), ESPN, 4.56 million.

7. “Password” NBC, 3.92 million.

8. “Big Brother” (Wednesday) CBS 3.8 million.

9. “FBI” CBS 3.7 million.

10. “Big Brother” (Thursday) CBS 3.68 million.

11. College Football: Pennsylvania State University at Purdue, Fox, 3.51 million.

12. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Mon) Fox News 3.39 million.

13. “Bachelor: Men Tell Everyone” ABC 3.32 million.

14. “Tap your luck” ABC, 3.294 million.

15. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday) Fox News 3.288 million.

16. “Big Brother” (Sunday) CBS 3.27 million.

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17. “Young Sheldon” CBS 3.208 million.

18. “Neighborhood” 3.206 million.

19. College Football: West Virginia in Pittsburgh, ESPN, 3.15 million.

20. “American Ninja Warrior” NBC, 3.14 million.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

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