After a pair of marathon semifinals did well, an anti-climactic Wimbledon men’s final wilted in the face of World Cup competition.
Last Sunday’s Novak Djokovic–Kevin Anderson Wimbledon men’s final had a 1.1 rating and 1.64 million viewers on ESPN, down 27% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (Roger Federer–Marin Cilic: 1.5, 2.28M) and down 27% and 25% respectively from 2016 (Andy Murray–Milos Raonic: 1.5, 2.19M).
Djokovic’s straight-set win was the lowest rated and least-watched men’s final since ESPN began carrying the event in 2012. The full telecast window had a 0.7 (-22%) and 1.1 million (-24%), the lowest ever for a Wimbledon telecast featuring the men’s final.
Sunday’s telecast faced direct competition from the FIFA World Cup Final on FOX and Telemundo (17.8M). The Wimbledon final rarely faces such stiff competition, as there are few other major sporting events that take place in the morning hours.
The World Cup was not the sole factor in the declines. An afternoon encore on ABC, which faced no notable competition, had a 0.5 (-17%) and 764,000 (-14%).
For just the second time since ESPN began airing the Wimbledon singles finals, the men’s championship had a smaller audience than the women’s final the previous day. As previously noted, the Angelique Kerber–Serena Williams match had a 1.8 and 2.7 million. Keep in mind that match aired in a later-than-usual timeslot and had a direct lead-in from the conclusion of the Djokovic-Rafael Nadal men’s semifinal.
Saturday’s full telecast window, including the Djokovic-Nadal match, had a 1.0 (+67%) and 1.49 million (+58%). Encore coverage on ABC had a 0.7 (flat) and 1.0 million (-9%).
Last Friday’s marathon men’s semifinals — the six-hour Anderson-John Isner match and the first three sets of Djokovic-Nadal — averaged 1.1 million over 10 hours. Viewership increased 11% from last year (987K) and up 12% from 2016 (976K). It was the most-watched men’s semifinal day since at least 2014.
Overall, Wimbledon averaged a 0.5 rating (flat) and 754,000 viewers (+6%) on ESPN and a 0.2 (flat) and 260,000 (+8%) on ESPN2.
Wimbledon Men’s Final Ratings, Viewership
Since ESPN began airing event
[Numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 7.19]
