Ratings and viewership increased substantially for Serena Williams‘ fourth straight major title.
The Serena Williams/Garbine Muguruza Wimbledon women’s final drew a 1.7 final rating and 2.4 million viewers on ESPN Saturday afternoon, up 89% in ratings and 84% in viewership from Petra Kvitova/Eugenie Bouchard last year (0.9, 1.3M) and up 31% and 30%, respectively, from Marion Bartoli/Sabine Lisicki in 2013 (1.3, 1.9M).
Williams’ win ranks as the highest rated Wimbledon women’s final since her last appearance three years ago. That match, a three-set win over Agnieszka Radwanska, drew a 2.0 rating.
On Sunday, the Novak Djokovic/Roger Federer men’s final drew a 1.9 and 2.7 million — flat in ratings and down 3% in viewership from the same matchup last year (1.9, 2.8M) and down 10% and 11%, respectively, from Andy Murray/Djokovic in 2013 (2.1, 3.0M).
After hitting 3.9 million viewers for Federer’s win over Murray in 2012, viewership for the men’s final has dropped in each subsequent year.
The full six-hour telecast windows, which included re-airs of previous matches, drew 1.4 million viewers on Saturday and 2.0 million on Sunday.
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN)
