Tuesday’s all-Williams quarterfinal boosted an already-strong U.S. Open on the ESPN family of networks
Coverage of the U.S. Open quarterfinals earned a 2.1 final rating and 3.3 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, up 133% in ratings and 139% in viewership from last year (0.9, 1.4M) and up 163% and 187%, respectively, from 2013 (0.8. 1.2M).
The telecast, which ran from 7 PM ET until after 1 AM, scored the second-highest rating and viewership ever for tennis on the ESPN family of networks. Only coverage of 2012 Wimbledon men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray drew better numbers (2.5, 3.9M).
Tuesday’s near-record was fueled by the Serena Williams/Venus Williams match, which drew a 3.7 and 6.0 million. Ratings and viewership were the highest for any single tennis match since the 2013 Serena Williams/Victoria Azarenka U.S. Open women’s final, which aired on CBS with an NFL lead-in (4.0, 6.2M).
In other action, Labor Day coverage on ESPN2 drew 2.2 million viewers in the evening and 1.5 million during the day — the second and third-largest audiences, respectively, of the tournament. Sunday’s day session, which featured Serena Williams against Madison Keys, drew 1.4 million to rank fourth.
Through Tuesday, the U.S. Open has averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.2 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2 — up a third in ratings and 40% in viewership from the same period last year (0.6, 868K). Those averages do not include action on Wednesday, which drew 822,000 viewers during the day and 1.3 million in the evening.
(Numbers from ESPN, ESPN Media Zone, ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
