Even with greater star-power than usual — at least on the women’s side — the French Open singles finals earned some of the lowest television ratings in years on NBC.
French Open coverage featuring the Serena Williams/Maria Sharapova women’s final earned a 1.4 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on NBC last Saturday, tied with the past three years as the second-lowest for coverage of the women’s final since at least 1994.
Only coverage of the 2009 final between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina earned a lower rating (1.3).
Keep in mind that Saturday’s numbers are for NBC’s full four-hour telecast window (9 AM-1 PM ET). The Serena/Sharapova match lasted until shortly after 11 AM ET.
On Sunday, coverage featuring the Rafael Nadal/David Ferrer men’s final drew a 1.4 and 2.0 million viewers — down 18% in ratings from coverage featuring the Nadal/Novak Djokovic final last year (1.7), and down 33% and 36%, respectively, from coverage featuring Nadal/Roger Federer in 2009 (2.1, 3.1M).
The 1.4 rating is tied with 2010 as the lowest for coverage featuring the men’s final since 2002.
Again, keep in mind the numbers are for the full five-hour telecast window (9 AM-2 PM ET). The Nadal/Ferrer match lasted until shortly after 11:30 AM ET.
(Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
