The Australian Open has told ESPN and others that it is considering moving its women’s tennis final to a prime-time match in Australia, meaning ESPN would have to show future finals in the early morning hours.
A prime-time start in Australia would
mean early morning viewing in the
United States.
This year, the women’s final between Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic averaged a 1.5 coverage-area rating on ESPN2, which translates to 2 million viewers. It aired from 9:30-11:22 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 25.
The men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga started Sunday, Jan. 27, at 3:30 a.m. ET and pulled a 0.6 coverage-area rating/698,000 viewers on ESPN2. The replay at noon on Sunday brought a coverage area rating of 0.9/1.206 million viewers.
For the last four years, the men’s final has started in the early morning hours in the United States.
This year was the second year of a five-year deal ESPN cut for Australian Open rights. ESPN, which has televised the tournament since 1984, holds the rights through 2011. It shared some of its rights with Tennis Channel this year.
ESPN2 has seen its ratings for the men’s final rise since the Australian Open started playing the match in prime time local time four years ago. In 2005, ESPN2 scored a 0.3 rating for Lleyton Hewitt-Marat Safin. That number rose to a 0.4 in 2006 for Roger Federer-Marco Baghdatis, and a 0.5 in 2007 for Roger Federer-Fernando Gonzalez.
Staff writer Daniel Kaplan contributed to this report.
