Andy Murray's "valiant defeat" to Roger Federer in Sunday's Wimbledon men's final “attracted a peak audience of 16.9 million, the highest
viewing figure since at least 1990 and a record for a British player at
the tournament,” according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. An “average audience of 11.4 million tuned into BBC1's
coverage" from 1:00-6:45pm local time yesterday, a 58% share of total TV
viewing across that time period. The 16.9 million peak “is a new record
for a British player at Wimbledon, surpassing the previous mark of 13.1
million set by" Tim Henman-Michel Kratochvil in the fourth round in '02
(GUARDIAN, 7/9).
In London, Grace Dent noted the BBC's post-match credits ran to the
Beatles song, “Let It Be,” and although Murray lost, the net's "live
sports coverage still felt like a winner” (INDEPENDENT, 7/9). In L.A., Georg Szalai noted that the finals match "wasn't as
widely watched" as some of the Euro 2012 matches last
month and the Queen's recent jubilee concert (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 7/9). In London, Owen Gibson noted the audience for Murray's
defeat of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Friday in the semifinals “peaked at 11.4
million viewers, the highest ratings for any of the four consecutive
semi-finals that the Scot has reached" since '09 (GUARDIAN, 7/8).
QUESTIONABLE BENEFIT: In London, Martin Kelner
wrote that Sunday's match was the "first men's final to be broadcast in 3D,
which in my view remains a questionable benefit." The view in 3D was
"less than satisfying." With fewer cameras for 3D than for "conventional
coverage, the director struggles for different angles." For the most
part viewers are "behind the server, or we are receiving the serve."
Kelner: "I watched the ladies' final in 3D, and seemed to spend most of
the afternoon shuffling around on the sofa, as Serena Williams fired
serves of up to 120mph out of the TV set at me" (GUARDIAN, 7/9).
U.S. AUDIENCE STRONG: In the U.S., ESPN earned a 3.1 overnight Nielsen rating for the men's final from
9am-2:15pm EST. That is up 48% from a 2.1 overnight last year on NBC for Novak
Djokovic’ win over Rafael Nadal. The 3.1 rating is also up from a 1.9
rating in ’10 for Nadal’s win over Tomas Berdych. Meanwhile, ESPN earned
a 2.5 overnight for Serena Williams’ defeat of Agnieszka Radwanska in Saturday's women's final 9am-12pm EST, up 14%
from a 2.2 rating on NBC last year for Petra Kvitova’s win over Maria
Sharapova. For the complete Saturday Wimbledon window from 9am-2pm,
ESPN earned a 2.0 overnight, up from NBC’s 1.8 rating last year. The ’10
final, which saw Williams defeat Vera Zvonareva, also earned a 1.8 for
the entire window (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
GERMANY UNINTERESTED: DWDL.de's Alexander Krei reported that only 100,000 people watched the broadcast of Roger Federer's record-tying seventh Wimbledon title on pay-TV channel Sky Deutschland. This number increased to 110,000 after the short rain delay, which is still only a 0.6% market share (DWDL.de, 7/9).
