Swiss sensation Roger Federer's relatively easy straight-sets victory over Aussie Mark Philippoussis in the Wimbledon men's singles final didn't produce a ratings winner for NBC, whose broadcast of the July 6 match delivered a paltry household ratings average of 2.2.
That number, down 8 percent from NBC's 2.4 household ratings average for last year's Wimbledon men's singles final, represents the network's lowest-ever rating for a Wimbledon men's championship match. NBC has aired Wimbledon for 35 consecutive years.
Certainly, the absence — for a third straight year — of an American player in the men's final was a key factor in the low rating. NBC Sports vice president of communications Kevin Sullivan said: "When there's not an American, the numbers are lower. We saw that again this year."
The 2002 men's final featured Aussie Lleyton Hewitt against Argentine David Nalbandian.
Two Americans, Serena Williams and Venus Williams, vied for this year's Wimbledon women's singles title, but NBC's rating for that July 5 matchup was down 15 percent from a year ago, from a 3.4 household average to a 2.9. Last year's final also featured the Williams sisters.
NBC's July 5 Wimbledon coverage ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern, while the network's July 6 broadcast aired from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern. The ratings reflect a measurement of the entire block of time, not just the duration of the championship singles matches.
Overall, NBC garnered a 2.1 household ratings average for its 14 Wimbledon telecasts this year, even with last year's number.
This year, ESPN and ESPN2 replaced TNT as Wimbledon's U.S. cable home. For its 34 original hours of coverage, ESPN averaged a 0.72 household rating compared to the 0.76 average that TNT's Wimbledon telecasts generated last year.
ESPN2's 48 original hours of Wimbledon coverage delivered an 0.61 household average.
ESPN reaches 86.4 million homes, and ESPN2 is in 84.3 million households.
According to an ESPN spokesman, the networks' original hours of match coverage delivered numbers superior to those generated by programming that aired on ESPN and ESPN2 at the same time a year ago: up 80 percent on ESPN and up 307 percent on ESPN2.
The two networks combined for about 135 hours of total Wimbledon coverage.
