US Open viewership rebounded double-digits from last year, but still fell well short of what had been the norm.
The complete US Open tennis tournament averaged 796,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 13% from last year, when coverage faced unprecedented NBA and NHL competition (702K), but down 38% from 2019 (1.28M). Even with the increase, this year’s tournament still ranks as the second-least watched since ESPN took over exclusive rights in 2015. Primetime windows increased a third to 881,000.
Saturday’s Emma Raducanu-Leylah Fernandez women’s final, a matchup of unseeded teenagers, averaged 2.69 million viewers during the two-hour match window (the full-three hour telecast drew a 1.4 rating and 2.44 million).
Raducanu’s win, which peaked at a tournament-high 3.4 million from 6-6:15 PM ET, increased 25% from Naomi Osaka-Vika Azarenka last year (2.15M) but declined 33% from Bianca Andreescu-Serena Williams in 2019 (4.00M).
Excluding matches involving Williams, it was the most-watched women’s final of the Open since ESPN began airing the event exclusively in 2015.
Sunday’s Daniil Medvedev-Novak Djokovic men’s final, which saw Djokovic fall one win short of the calendar Grand Slam, averaged 2.18 million (the full telecast window averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.05 million).
Medvedev’s win, which peaked with 2.7 million from 6:15-6:30 PM ET, jumped 47% from Dominic Thiem-Alexander Zverev last year (1.48M) but declined 21% from Rafael Nadal-Medvedev in 2019 (2.75M).
Friday’s men’s semifinals averaged 1.3 million (+46%), including a 1.0 rating and 1.76 million for Djokovic’s five-set win over Zverev.
The previous night’s women’s semifinals drew a 0.8 and 1.46 million, actually down 12% and 6% respectively from last year’s 0.95 and 1.55 million — which featured Williams, but nonetheless faced a LeBron James playoff game and the NHL, in addition to the usual competition from the NFL Kickoff Game.
In other action, Sunday’s women’s doubles final — which included Coco Gauff — averaged a 0.28 and 444,000 leading into the men’s final, down from the last time it aired as a standalone program in 2019 (0.31, 475K).
Average US Open viewership since ESPN acquired exclusive rights
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 9.14]
