Two of the biggest names in tennis produced different results on the court and in the Nielsens.
Sunday’s Roger Federer–Marin Cilic Wimbledon men’s final earned a 1.5 rating and 2.3 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals — flat in ratings but up 6% in viewership from Andy Murray–Milos Raonic last year (1.5, 2.2M) and down 21% and 15% respectively from Novak Djokovic-Federer in 2015 (1.9, 2.7M).
Federer’s win delivered a streaming audience of 46,000, up 51% from last year (31K). With those viewers added to the mix, the match had 2.3 million viewers — still up 6% from last year.
Though viewership increased from last year, the 1.5 rating tied the lowest mark for the men’s final since ESPN began airing the event in 2012.
On Saturday, the Garbine Muguruza–Venus Williams women’s final pulled a 1.4 and 2.0 million — down a tick in ratings and 8% in viewership from Serena Williams–Angelique Kerber last year (1.5, 2.2M) and down 18% and 17% from Serena-Muguruza in ’15 (1.7, 2.4M).
It was the lowest rated and least-watched women’s final since the last non-Williams edition, Petra Kvitova–Eugenie Bouchard in 2014 (0.9, 1.3M).
The full telecast windows delivered a 0.6 (-45%) and 937,000 (-42%) on Saturday and a 0.9 (-25%) and 1.4 million (-22%) on Sunday. Overall, Wimbledon averaged 630,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2, down 10% from last year (698K) and down 18% from 2015 (764K).
[Numbers from ESPN PR 7.17, ESPN]
