ESPN2 Sees Viewership Slip 26% For This Year's Aussie Open

Australian Open viewership slipped 26% on ESPN2 for the two-week tournament, from 475,000 viewers in '11 to 353,000 this year. The live men's final from 3:44-9:37am ET on Sunday fetched 762,000 viewers, up 28% from 595,000 viewers last year, while the women’s final got 432,000 viewers, down 8% from 469,000 viewers. “After years of delivering steady and solid numbers, this year's Australian Open experienced some slippage, particularly the first 10 days in late prime time among older viewers,” an ESPN spokesperson said. “We will study the ratings and how competition programming performed to determine if this was an aberration.” The nearly six-hour-long men’s final, the longest final in Grand Slam history, did draw more viewers as it went on, peaking in the final minutes of Novak Djokovic’s victory over Rafael Nadal.