Fiend at Court Unplugged
Television ratings are a leading indicator for the future financial prospects of professional sports. While tournaments also earn money from from sponsorship and ticket sales, television broadcast ratings arguably have the strongest influence on the future revenue across all other categories. Television ratings drive future broadcast contracts which directly translates into media exposure of the sport. That, in turn, is how the majority of fans experience tennis. The number of people who watch an event is factored in when corporations make sponsorship decisions.
The 2021 US Open Finals both featured historic storylines that should have generated strong fan interest. Novak Djokovic had a chance to win all four Major tournaments in one year. Had he prevailed it would have been the first time that had occurred since 1969. Winning also would have moved him into the top position for the most Major titles over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Currently all three players are tied with 20 titles each.
Viewership of the men’s finals was up from last year when Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev played in the finals. However the numbers were down when compared with 2019. More significantly, television viewership was slightly down from the last time Djokovic played in the finals in 2016. As previously observed by this site, the ratings for the men’s finals are historically higher when one of the players is Federer or Nadal.
| Year | Champion (Opponent) | Viewers |
| 2021 | Daniil Medvedev (Novak Djokovic) | 2.05 |
| 2020 | Dominic Thiem (Alexander Zverev) | 1.48 |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal (Daniil Medvedev) | 2.81 |
| 2018 | Novak Djokovic (Juan Martin del Potro) | 2.09 |
| 2017 | Rafael Nadal (Kevin Anderson) | 1.48 |
| 2016 | Stan Wawrinka (Novak Djokovic) | 1.67 |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic (Roger Federer) | 3.15 |
The television viewership for the women’s finals was higher than the men’s in 2021. In fact, it is the fifth consecutive year that the women’s viewership has outpaced them. Even so, the fact that two “break-out” and previously unheralded teenaged girls out-drew Djokovic’s Calendar Slam pursuit blows my mind.
| Year | Champion (Opponent) | Viewers |
| 2021 | Emma Raducanu (Leylah Fernandez) | 2.44 |
| 2020 | Naomi Osaka (Victoria Azarenka) | 1.85 |
| 2019 | Bianca Andreescu (Serena Williams) | 3.27 |
| 2018 | Naomi Osaka (Serena Williams) | 3.15 |
| 2017 | Sloane Stephens (Madison Keys) | 1.85 |
| 2016 | Angelique Kerber (Karolina Pliskova) | 1.46 |
| 2015 | Flavia Pennetta (Roberta Vinci) | 1.60 |
In the United States, tennis broadcast rights to the US Open are under contract with ESPN. The current deal started in 2015 and runs through 2026. When the contract was originally announced, Ron Juckett of the Bleacher Report predicted that the sports marketing prowess of ESPN would dramatically increase television ratings. The following graph of US Open viewership since that contract went into effect illustrates that it hasn’t happened.
The fact that the USTA managed to receive an increase in television fees in the face of what was already declining viewership in 2015 was amazing. At that time, Juckett observed “Now, [the USTA] has to do their job and get kids and adults playing the sport again.” That is essential to enable tennis to effectively compete against all the other popular televised American sports.
There are four years left in the ESPN contract with the USTA, but negotiations for future rights will likely start much earlier. I would think that the television viewership numbers would have to improve significantly for the USTA to negotiate a contract that is as lucrative or even comparable to the current US Open deal.
Get out and play… and park your butt on the couch and watch tennis on TV.
- US Open Viewership up 33% in Prime Time, 13% Overall, Dave Nagle, ESPN Press Room, 9/14/2021.
- US Open women’s final gets higher TV viewership than men’s final in America, Emma Raducanu emerges as most-searched player, Vendant Chandel, Sportskeeda, 9/15/2021.
- US Open up double-digits, but down big from ’19, Paulsen, Sports Media Watch, 9/15/2021.
- ESPN, USTA Are Big Winners in New Television Deal for U.S. Open, Ron Juckett, The Bleacher Report, May 17, 2013.
