With Roger Federer gunning for his fifth U.S. Open title this year, the tournament promises to be better than ever. But are the U.S. Open’s TV ratings also thriving?
Since 1992, CBS’s U.S. Open telecasts have drawn roughly 2 to 3 million U.S. viewers, on average, each year.
Last year, CBS’s U.S. Open broadcasts drew an average of 1.96 million viewers per telecast — down from almost 2.2 million viewers in 2006, but up slightly from the smallest U.S. Open TV audience since 1977: 1.94 million in 2004.
The 1999 U.S. Open telecasts claimed the largest U.S. TV audiences in recent memory (almost 3.5 million viewers per telecast). But in terms of household ratings, the early Eighties remain the true glory days of U.S. Open TV viewership.
The 1980 and 1981 tournaments claimed the highest household TV ratings to date, with 5.8% of all U.S. households tuning in per telecast. In comparison, the 1999 U.S. Open telecasts drew just 3.5% of all U.S. households. By 2007, the average rating had decreased to 1.7%.
Below are historic U.S. household ratings (AA%), share, and TV audience estimates (1992 – present) for CBS’s coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament since 1977.
| YEAR | # OF TELECASTS |
AA% | SHARE | VIEWERS P2+ (in 000’s) |
WINNERS (WOMEN/MEN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 5 | 5.7 | 20 | n/a | Evert/Vilas |
| 1978 | 5 | 4.8 | 15 | n/a | Evert/Connors |
| 1979 | 5 | 5.0 | 15 | n/a | Austin/McEnroe |
| 1980 | 5 | 5.8 | 17 | n/a | Evert-Lloyd/McEnroe |
| 1981 | 6 | 5.8 | 17 | n/a | Austin/McEnroe |
| 1982 | 6 | 5.1 | 16 | n/a | Evert-Lloyd/Connors |
| 1983 | 8 | 5.0 | 14 | n/a | Navratilova/Connors |
| 1984 | 9 | 4.5 | 12 | n/a | Navratilova/McEnroe |
| 1985 | 10 | 4.8 | 14 | n/a | Mandlikova/Lendl |
| 1986 | 8 | 3.7 | 11 | n/a | Navratilova/Lendl |
| 1987 | 9 | 3.6 | 11 | n/a | Navratilova/Lendl |
| 1988 | 7 | 4.2 | 12 | n/a | Graf/Wilander |
| 1989 | 8 | 3.8 | 12 | n/a | Graf/Becker |
| 1990 | 8 | 4.0 | 12 | n/a | Sabatini/Sampras |
| 1991 | 7 | 4.4 | 13 | n/a | Seles/Edberg |
| 1992 | 7 | 3.2 | 10 | 2,999 | Seles/Edberg |
| 1993 | 9 | 2.6 | 8 | 2,422 | Graf/Sampras |
| 1994 | 10 | 3.0 | 9 | 2,872 | Sanchez-Vicario / Agassi |
| 1995 | 9 | 3.2 | 9 | 3,037 | Graf/Sampras |
| 1996 | 13 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 2.5 | 8 | 2,413 | Graf/Sampras |
| 1996 | 16 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 2.5 | 7 | 2,415 | Graf/Sampras |
| 1997 | 13 | 2.3 | 7 | 2,269 | Hingis/Rafter |
| 1998 | 12 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 2.3 | 7 | 2,237 | Davenport/Rafter |
| 1998 | 13 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 2.2 | 6 | 2,201 | Davenport/Rafter |
| 1999 | 12 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 3.5 | 9 | 3,486 | S. Williams/Agassi |
| 1999 | 13 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 3.4 | 9 | 3,384 | S. Williams/Agassi |
| 2000 | 9 | 2.8 | 8 | 2,886 | V. Williams/Safin |
| 2001 | 10 | 3.0 | 8 | 3,171 | V. Williams/Hewitt |
| 2002 | 7 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 3.0 | 8 | 3,179 | S. Williams/Sampras |
| 2002 | 11 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 2.5 | 7 | 2,643 | S. Williams/Sampras |
| 2003 | 8 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 1.9 | 5 | 2,080 | Henin-Hardenne / Roddick |
| 2003 | 11 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 1.9 | 5 | 2,062 | Henin-Hardenne / Roddick |
| 2004 | 11 | 1.8 | 5 | 1,942 | Kuznetsova/Federer |
| 2005 | 10 | 2.1 | 6 | 2,367 | Clijsters/Federer |
| 2006 | 10 (Excludes Rain Coverage) | 2.1 | 5 | 2,359 | Sharapova/Federer |
| 2006 | 11 (Includes Rain Coverage) | 2.0 | 5 | 2,186 | Sharapova/Federer |
| 2007 | 9 | 1.7 | 5 | 1,959 | Henin/Federer |
| Source: The Nielsen Company (1977 – 2007). | |||||
| Note: Effective January 1, 2006, data includes Live and Same Day DVR viewing. | |||||
[...] Mindshare Tech . Excerpt: Last year, CBS’s US Open broadcasts drew an average of 1.96 million viewers per telecast — down from almost 2.2 million viewers in 2006, but up slightly from the smallest US Open TV audience since 1977: 1.94 million in 2004. … [...]
[...] Read more from the original source: US Open Tennis: 30 Years Of US TV Ratings [...]
[...] US Open Tennis: 30 Years Of US TV Ratings By Rocco By 2007, the average rating had decreased to 1.7%. Below are historic US household ratings (AA%), share, and TV audience estimates (1992 – present) for CBS’s coverage of the US Open tennis tournament since 1977. … Nielsen Wire – http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire [...]
I believe is really important to bring the viewing rating up, tennis is such a great sport and it needs to keep growing. I love watching tennis, I try to watch every match but now I get upset because they started to broadcast the tennis matches delayed. I like to watch them live but if they are not live I loose interest. I know a lot of people who are viewing less tennis because they dont like to watch delayed matches. This can be a one of the reasons why the ratings are going down.
Interesting article thank you for the insight.
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