The presence of Serena Williams lifted ratings for the French Open women’s final, though not too high.
Coverage of the French Open featuring the S. Williams/Lucie Safarova women’s final earned a 1.4 final rating and 2.0 million viewers on NBC last Saturday morning, up a tick in ratings and 18% in viewership from Maria Sharapova/Simona Halep last year (1.3, 1.7M) and flat and up 5%, respectively, from S. Williams/Sharapova in 2013 (1.4, 1.9M).
The 1.4 rating is tied as the third-lowest for coverage featuring the women’s final since at least 1996, matching five other years (2007, 2010-13).
The following day, coverage featuring the Stan Wawrinka/Novak Djokovic men’s final drew a 1.3 and 1.9 million — down 24% in ratings and viewership from Rafael Nadal/Djokovic last year (1.7, 2.5M) and down a tick and 5%, respectively, from Nadal/David Ferrer in 2013 (1.4, 2.0M).
The 1.3 is tied as the lowest rating for coverage featuring either singles final since at least 1996, matching the 2002 men’s final and the 2009 and 2014 women’s finals.
Keep in mind the ratings and viewership listed are for the full telecast windows, and therefore include multiple hours of non-final programming. Data for the match portion only were not available.
(Wknd. numbers from via Sports Business Daily)
