ESPN last weekend aired the least-viewed U.S. Open finals on record. On Sunday, the net drew 1.67 million viewers for Stan Wawrinka's four-set win over Novak Djokovic from 4:00-8:36pm ET. That audience was down from 3.15 million viewers for Djokovic's win over Roger Federer last year, which ran completely in primetime after a long rain delay. The Marin Cilic-Kei Nishikori finale on CBS in '14, which aired on a Monday afternoon due to rain delays, drew 2.2 million viewers. Meanwhile, ESPN's women's final on Saturday afternoon, which saw Angelique Kerber defeat Karolina Pliskova in three sets, drew 1.46 million viewers. Last year's Flavia Pennetta-Roberta Vinci final drew 1.6 million viewers on a Saturday, while CBS drew 4.5 million viewers in '14 on a Sunday for the Serena Williams-Caroline Wozniacki matchup. While the TV audiences were at record low levels this year, the U.S. Open marked the second-best tennis event ever for WatchESPN with 331.6 million minutes viewed, behind only last year’s event and almost tripling figures from '14 (+254%). Reach was down this year, but time spent viewing was up 11% to 80 minutes per viewer per day. The Kerber-Pliskova match also was up 20% in average audience on WatchESPN from last year's final.
The chart below lists final audience figures from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL: Giants-Cowboys (90%) |
9/11
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
15.5
|
27,500
|
| NFL Kickoff: Panthers-Broncos |
9/8
|
NBC
|
8:41-11:53pm
|
14.6
|
25,186
|
"Sunday Night Football":
Patriots-Cardinals |
9/11
|
NBC
|
8:35-11:24pm
|
13.1
|
23,078
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
9/11
|
CBS
|
1:06-4:17pm
|
9.3
|
16,041
|
| NFL: (regional) |
9/11
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
9.2
|
15,800
|
| "Football Night in America" |
9/11
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
4.8
|
8,388
|
College football:
Ole Miss-Florida State |
9/5
|
ESPN
|
7:55pm-12:00am
|
4.8
|
8,354
|
College football: Virginia Tech-
Tennessee (Battle at Bristol) |
9/10
|
ABC
|
8:07pm-12:14am
|
3.3
|
5,790
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
9/11
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.6
|
5,700
|
| College football: Tulsa-Ohio State* |
9/10
|
ABC
|
3:33-5:40pm;
6:31-8:00pm
|
2.5
|
4,016
|
| "The NFL Today" |
9/11
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.4
|
3,775
|
FIFA World Cup qualifier:
Mexico-Honduras |
9/6
|
Univision
|
9:55pm-12:08am
|
1.5
|
3,051
|
| College football: UCF-Michigan |
9/10
|
ABC
|
12:01-3:33pm
|
1.9
|
2,863
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Federated Auto Parts 400 (Richmond) |
9/10
|
NBCSN
|
7:53-11:46pm
|
1.6
|
2,706
|
| College football: Kentucky-Florida |
9/10
|
CBS
|
3:30-7:05pm
|
1.6
|
2,517
|
| College football: Arkansas-TCU |
9/10
|
ESPN
|
7:00-11:04pm
|
n/a
|
2,470
|
College football:
Western Kentucky-Alabama |
9/10
|
ESPN2
|
3:30-7:00pm
|
n/a
|
2,467
|
| College football: Nevada-Notre Dame |
9/10
|
NBC
|
3:30-7:15pm
|
1.6
|
2,451
|
| College football: Penn State-Pitt |
9/10
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:47pm
|
1.6
|
2,388
|
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" |
9/11
|
ESPN
|
11:00am-1:00pm
|
n/a
|
1,978
|
| "College GameDay" |
9/10
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:00pm
|
n/a
|
1,861
|
| PBR: PFIWestern.com Invitational |
9/11
|
CBS
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
1.2
|
1,750
|
College football:
South Carolina-Mississippi State |
9/9
|
ESPN2
|
7:55-11:58pm
|
n/a
|
1,730
|
| College football: BYU-Utah |
9/10
|
Fox
|
7:36-11:26pm
|
1.0
|
1,693
|
U.S. Open: Men's Final:
Stan Wawrinka-Novak Djokovic |
9/11
|
ESPN
|
4:00-8:36pm
|
n/a
|
1,669
|
| College football: Virginia-Oregon |
9/10
|
ESPN
|
11:04-2:06am
|
n/a
|
1,579
|
PGA Tour: BMW Championship:
Final Round |
9/11
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,516
|
| MLB: (regional) |
9/10
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,478
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
9/11
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,400
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Jaguares |
9/10
|
Univision
|
10:03pm-12:03am
|
0.7
|
1,279
|
PGA Tour: BMW Championship:
Third Round |
9/10
|
NBC
|
12:00-3:30pm
|
0.9
|
1,172
|
| Liga MX: Monterey-Tijuana |
9/10
|
Univision
|
7:55-10:03pm
|
0.6
|
1,128
|
| "Fox College Saturday" |
9/10
|
Fox
|
7:00-7:30pm
|
0.7
|
1,026
|
FIFA World Cup qualifier:
U.S.-Trinidad & Tobago |
9/6
|
UniMas
|
7:58-10:02pm
|
0.4
|
740
|
| "College Football Today" |
9/10
|
CBS
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.5
|
684
|
| "MLB Pregame" |
9/10
|
Fox
|
12:30-1:00pm
|
0.4
|
509
|
"World of X Games:
What Lies Beneath" |
9/11
|
ABC
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
412
|
| "World of X Games: Revolt TV" |
9/11
|
ABC
|
4:30-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
384
|
"World of X Games:
World Surfing League" |
9/11
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
351
|
| "Road to the Ryder Cup" |
9/11
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:00pm
|
0.3
|
336
|
| "PGA Tour 2016: Player Profile" |
9/11
|
NBC
|
1:00-1:30pm
|
0.2
|
293
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
NOTE: * = Weather delay from 5:45-6:30pm ET.
