Ratings roundup, including lower numbers for three events that were not held last year — the British Open, Wimbledon and the WNBA All-Star Game.
Slower start for British Open
Not counting the overnight and early morning hours, Thursday’s opening round of the British Open averaged 888,000 viewers on Golf Channel — down 7% from the last time the event was held in 2019 (951K). It was the least-watched opening round since 2017 (760K), but increased 12% from the last time the event was held at Royal St. George’s in 2011.
Wimbledon finals down from ’19, but men’s final up from ’18
Last Sunday’s Novak Djokovic-Matteo Berrettini Wimbledon men’s final averaged 1.76 million viewers on ESPN, down 54% from the previous men’s final in 2019, Djokovic’s five-set marathon win over Roger Federer (3.83M), but up 8% from Djokovic-Kevin Anderson in 2018 (1.64M).
The full telecast window averaged 1.5 million, down 57% from 2019 but up 37% from 2018.
The previous day’s Ashleigh Barty-Karolína Plíšková women’s final averaged just 1.09 million — down 55% from Simona Halep-Serena Williams in 2019 (2.44M) and the smallest audience for any Wimbledon singles final since ESPN began airing the event exclusively in 2011. The previous low was 1.33 million for Petra Kvitova-Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.
The full telecast averaged 729,000 (-40%).
WNBA All-Star Game weaker in return
The WNBA All-Star Game averaged 470,000 viewers on ESPN Wednesday night, per Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, down 7% from the last time it was held in 2019 (508K). Keep in mind the game aired on broadcast network ABC that year.
Per Karp, this year’s audience was the lowest for the All-Star Game since 2010 (429K).
[Nielsen estimates from NBC Sports, ESPN, Karp/Twitter 7.15]
