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Audience Analysis: Djokovic-Federer Helps ESPN To Wimbledon Gains

A heavy dose of A-list names making runs at Wimbledon helped drive a big audience increase for ESPN. The two-week tournament averaged 877,000 viewers across ESPN networks this year, up 30% from last year (675,000). Novak Djokovic’s win over Roger Federer in five sets on Sunday averaged 3.33 million viewers, marking the second-best tennis telecast ever on ESPN, behind only Federer’s win over Andy Murray in four sets in ’12 (3.93 million viewers). Meanwhile, ESPN on Saturday averaged 1.2 million viewers for Simona Halep’s win over Serena Williams. That’s down from 1.49 million viewers for Williams’ loss to Angelique Kerber last year and the lowest figure for any Wimbledon final involving Williams in at least a decade.

WIMBLEDON FINALS: VIEWERSHIP TREND ON ESPN
YEAR
GENTLEMEN
SETS
VIEWERS (000)
LADIES
SETS
VIEWERS (000)
'19
Djokovic vs. Federer
5
3,329
Halep vs. Serena
2
1,197
'18
Djokovic vs. Anderson
3
1,056
Kerber vs. Serena
2
1,485
'17
Federer vs. Cilic
3
1,393
Muguruza vs. Venus
2
937
'16
Murray vs. Raonic
3
1,791
Serena vs. Kerber
2
1,604
'15
Djokovic vs. Federer
4
2,022
Serena vs. Muguruza
2
1,428
Download the
Wimbledon Finals Audience Trend

NOTES: Univision (combined with a simulcast on TUDN) averaged 1.4 million viewers for the Campeon de Campeones match on Sunday night (Club America-Tigres UANL). The match pits the two winners from the most recent Liga MX Apertura and Clausura seasons. The 1.4 million viewers is the second-best figure for the match since it began airing on U.S. TV in ’15 (the actual event dates back to 1942)....CBS is averaging 1.03 million viewers for its Pro Bull Riding events this season to date, up 2% compared to the same point last season....ABC last Wednesday averaged 3.87 million viewers for the ESPYs, marking the lowest audience for the awards telecast since it moved to ABC back in ’15. Last year, the event drew 3.94 million viewers. During its last year on ESPN/ESPN2 in ‘14, the ESPYs drew 2.21 million viewers.

The chart below lists final viewership figures from select recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
MLB All-Star Game
7/9
Fox
8:09-11:04pm
5.0
8,153
T-Mobile Home Run Derby*
7/8
ESPN/
ESPN2
8:17-10:51pm
n/a
6,196
The ESPYs
7/10
ABC
8:00-11:00pm
2.6
3,873
Wimbledon: men's final:
Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer
7/14
ESPN
8:57am-3:55pm
2.1
3,329
MLB: (regional)
7/13
Fox
7:12-11:04pm
1.4
2,227
MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game (taped)
7/8
ESPN
10:51-11:51pm
n/a
2,157
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Quaker State 400 (Kentucky)
7/13
NBCSN
7:58-10:52pm
1.2
2,075
MLB: Dodgers-Red Sox
7/14
ESPN
7:00pm-12:51am
1.3
2,028
PGA Tour: John Deere Classic: final round
7/14
CBS
3:00-6:00pm
1.0
1,619
Soccer: Campeon de Campeones:
Club America-Tigres UANL
7/14
Univision/
TUDN
9:00-11:53pm
0.7
1,404
Wimbledon: men's semifinals
7/12
ESPN
8:00am-3:05pm
1.0
1,389
PGA Tour: John Deere Classic: third round
7/13
CBS
3:00-6:00pm
0.9
1,278
MLB: Astros-Rangers
7/11
ESPN
8:00-11:14pm
0.8
1,204
Wimbledon: women's final:
Simona Halep d. Serena Williams
7/13
ESPN
8:57am-4:04pm
0.8
1,197
Wimbledon: men's final:
Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer (repeat)
7/14
ABC
3:00-6:00pm
0.7
1,059
Wimbledon: women's final:
Simona Halep d. Serena Williams (repeat)
7/13
ABC
3:00-6:00pm
0.6
911
Golf: American Century Championship
7/14
NBC
4:00-6:00pm
0.6
872
European Tour: Scottish Open: third round
7/14
NBC
12:30-4:00pm
0.6
825
Wimbledon: women's quarterfinals
7/9
ESPN
8:00am-4:00pm
0.6
778
Golf: American Century Championship
7/13
NBC
2:45-6:00pm
0.5
748
Basketball: Big3 (Brooklyn)
7/14
CBS
12:00-2:00pm
0.5
725
Wimbledon: Round of 16
7/8
ESPN
8:00am-4:00pm
0.5
721
European Tour: Scottish Open: third round
7/13
NBC
12:30-2:45pm
0.5
685
Basketball: Big3 (Providence)
7/13
CBS
12:00-2:00pm
0.5
670
Formula E Championship: Race 1 (N.Y.)
7/13
Fox
4:00-5:00pm
n/a
326

NOTES: * = Includes Statcast version of Derby on ESPN2, which drew 849,000 viewers.

Download the
Audience Analysis chart

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