A quickie men’s final took Wimbledon viewership from a five-year high to a year-over-year dip. Plus: the ESPYs seems to have benefited from a presidential lead-in; and more sports ratings.
Wimbledon finishes with slight dip thanks to short men’s final
The Wimbledon tennis tournament averaged 677,000 viewers on the ESPN networks, down 2% from last year, but up 5% from 2022. Sunday’s three-set Carlos Alcaraz-Novak Djokovic men’s final averaged 2.2 million, down 31% from last year’s five-set matchup of the same players (3.2M) and a three-year low.
On Saturday, the Barbora Krejčíková-Jasmine Paolini women’s final averaged 1.4 million — up 9% from Marketa Vondrousova-Ons Jabeur last year (1.3M) and the most-watched women’s final since Serena Williams’ last appearance in 2019 (2.4M).
Last Friday’s men’s semifinals averaged 977,000 (+10%), also the highest since 2019. The tournament as a whole had been trending at a five-year high through the semifinals, but fell off that pace due to the sharp decline for the men’s final.
ESPY viewership hits five-year high following presidential news conference
Last Thursday’s ESPY Awards, which were delayed a half-hour due to a presidential news conference, averaged 2.64 million viewers on ABC — up 13% from last year and the largest audience for the event since 2019. Keep in mind the presidential lead-in averaged nearly five million on ABC alone (and 24 million across all networks).
The ESPYs typically would have taken place this week, coinciding with the dead period between the MLB All-Star Game and resumption of the season. It was moved up to last week due to the Republican National Convention.
Plus: NASCAR, Scottish Open, BIG3
— NASCAR Cup Series racing from Pocono (Pa.) averaged 2.4 million viewers on USA Network, down 15% from last year (2.8M) and the least-watched Pocono race in three years.
— Final round coverage of golf’s Scottish Open averaged 1.74 million viewers on CBS, down 7% from Rory McIlroy’s win last year (1.86M). Figures exclude a pair of CBS News special reports that lasted a combined 31 minutes.
— Airing in the window usually set aside for PGA Tour golf, the BIG3 basketball league averaged 522,000 viewers on CBS Sunday — down 13% from the equivalent date last year (600K).