Airing in the middle of the night and overshadowed by Super Bowl Sunday, the epic men’s final of the Australian Open between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer still put up solid numbers.
Nadal’s five-set win over Federer drew a 0.9 cable rating and 982,000 viewers on ESPN2 early Sunday morning, up 50% in ratings and 41% in viewership from a 0.6 with 698,000 for last year’s Tsonga/Djokovic final.
The 0.9 is the highest rating for the men’s final of the Australian Open since the event moved to its current 3:30 AM timeslot in 2005. Ratings have increased every year since the men’s final moved to late night, rising 200% from a 0.3 for the ’05 final to this year’s 0.9.
Ratings for men’s final at the Australian Open.
* all ratings are cable ratings
0.9: Nadal/Federer (Sun., 2/1/09, 3:30 AM ESPN2)
0.6: Djokovic/Tsonga (Sun., 1/27/08, 3:30 AM ESPN2)
0.5: Federer/Gonzales (Sun., 1/28/07, 3:30 AM ESPN2)
0.4: Federer/Baghdatis (Sun., 1/29/06, 3:30 AM ESPN2)
0.3: Safin/Hewitt (Sun., 1/30/05, 3:30 AM ESPN2)
