U.S. Open, Agassi Draw Big Weekend Numbers For CBS, USA

Agassi’s Farewell Draws Best Rating For U.S. Open's First Sunday Since '90 On CBS

CBS earned a 3.0/8 overnight Nielsen rating for its U.S. Open coverage on Sunday in the 11:00am-6:15pm time slot, which included Andre Agassi’s final match, marking the net’s best overnight for Sunday coverage on the tournament’s first weekend since a 4.5/14 in ’90. The 3.0 is up 30% over last year’s 2.3/6 for the comparable time. Agassi’s match peaked with a 4.3 rating. On Saturday, when play was postponed due to rain, CBS earned a 1.6/4 overnight.  The network got a 1.9/5 for Monday's coverage from 11:00am-12:00pm and a 2.4/5 from 12:30-6:00pm, both down 17% from a 2.3/6 and a 2.9/6 for the respective time slots last year.  Meanwhile, USA Network’s coverage of Agassi’s five-set win over Marcos Baghdatis last Thursday night earned a 2.08/ (1,910,000 HHs) cable rating, tying for the highest-rated primetime U.S. Open telecast on the net in almost four years. The 2.08 is up 189% over 0.72 for the fourth night of the tournament last year (THE DAILY).

NOTABLE NUMBERS: Agassi’s finale drew a 10.8 rating on KLAS-CBS in his hometown of Las Vegas, while the “rest of the tennis coverage drew” a 6.0 on Sunday. CBS’ coverage on Monday averaged a 3.1 in the market (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/6). The match drew 315,000 viewers on TSN, “a huge tennis number” (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 9/6).

REVIEWS: The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium gave Agassi an 8-1/2 minute ovation after the match, and in Las Vegas, Bill Taafee noted CBS’ Dick Enberg “had the good sense not to babble through the cheering, letting the cameras and the sounds alone tell the story” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/5)....In Ft. Lauderdale, Charles Bricker wrote “you shouldn’t have a tennis analyst (Mary Joe Fernandez) who is married to an agent (Tony Godsick of IMG) doing commentary or heaping praise on players [Tommy Haas] represented by her spouse or his company” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 9/5).