Serena Boosts U.S. Open to Four-Year High in First Year on Cable

Serena Williams‘ ultimately failed quest for the calendar year Grand Slam boosted the U.S. Open to its largest audience in four years.

Coverage of the 2015 U.S. Open averaged 1.3 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 20% from last year on CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 (1.1M) and the most-watched edition of the tournament since 2011 (1.4M). Excluding last year’s CBS windows, viewership increased 58% from 757,000 last year to 1.2 million.

The double-digit gains came despite the tournament airing exclusively on cable for the first time.

Williams’ run for the Grand Slam, which seemed like a virtual lock until her upset loss to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals, was the driving force behind ESPN’s success. Her quarterfinal match against Venus Williams was easily the highest rated and most-watched of the tournament, with a 3.7 rating and 6.0 million viewers — and the full five-hour window was ESPN’s second-most watched tennis telecast ever.

The interest in Williams’ early round matches more than made up for her absence from the final, which declined a whopping 64% in viewership from last year.

U.S. Open Viewership Compared to Last Year

Day	Session	Net	2015	Net	2014	vs. ’14
8/31	Day	ESPN	680K	ESPN	426K	+60%
	Day	ESPN2	677K	ESPN2	309K	+119%
	Night	ESPN2	962K	ESPN2	507K	+90%
9/1	Day	ESPN	651K	ESPN	449K	+45%
9/1	Night	ESPN	926K	ESPN	918K	+1%
9/2	Day	ESPN	953K	ESPN	478K	+99%
	Day	ESPN2	701K	ESPN2	571K	+23%
	Night	ESPN2	1.07M	ESPN2	591K	+82%
9/3	Day	ESPN	744K	ESPN	519K	+43%
	Day	ESPN2	736K	ESPN2	394K	+87%
	Night	ESPN2	925K	ESPN2	834K	+11%
9/4	Day	ESPN	843K	ESPN	573K	+47%
	Day	ESPN2	746K	ESPN2	647K	+15%
	Night	ESPN2	1.38M	ESPN2	970K	+42%
9/5	Day	ESPN2	1.02M	CBS	1.27M	-19%
9/5	Night	ESPN2	1.02M	TTC	not rated
9/6	Day	ESPN2	1.45M	CBS	1.66M	-13%
9/6	Night	ESPN2	1.17M	TTC	not rated
9/7	Day	ESPN2	1.49M	CBS	1.93M	-23%
9/7	Night	ESPN2	2.24M	ESPN2	769K	+191%
9/8	Day	ESPN	990K	ESPN	663K	+49%
9/8	Night	ESPN	3.32M	ESPN	1.39M	+139%
9/9	Day	ESPN	822K	ESPN	711K	+16%
9/9	Night	ESPN2	1.31M	ESPN2	1.39M	-6%
9/10	Night	ESPN	ppd	ESPN	1.85M	none
9/11	W. Semi	ESPN	1.38M	CBS	1.64M	-16%
9/11	M. Semi	ESPN	1.15M	CBS	2.02M	-43%
9/12	W. Final	ESPN	1.60M	CBS	4.50M	-64%
9/13	M. Final	ESPN	3.15M	CBS	2.19M	+44%

(Tournament avg. from ESPN)

U.S. Open Singles Finals Low, But Men’s Final Scores Big Increase

Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.