Novak Djokovic’s triumph at the Australian Open might have rewritten the history books but this year’s men’s final wasn’t a hit for ESPN compared to recent editions.
The world No.1 surged to a straight sets win over Stefanos Tsitsipas to become the first man in history to have won the Australian Open for a 10th time. Djokovic has also drawn level with Rafael Nadal for the most major titles won by a male player at 22 each. The win came a year after he was deported from the country after losing a legal battle concerning the legitimacy of his Visa. Djokovic was initially banned from re-entering Australia for three years but that penalty was waived last November.
Despite the recent drama involving the tennis star, ESPN has confirmed that this year’s title match attracted just 430,000 viewers which is the broadcaster’s worst audience for an Australian Open men’s final match in at least a decade. The match took place in the early hours of the morning in America (3:30-7:30am ET) which could be attributed to the figures. However, Rafael Nadal’s five-set triumph over Daniil Medvedev in 2021 attracted 689,000 viewers. This is a year-on-year drop of 36%.
It was a similar situation for the women’s final which saw Aryna Sabalenka oust Elena Rybakin in three sets to win her first major title. 379,000 viewers watched that match which is a 21% drop compared to 2022 which featured America’s Danielle Collins losing in straight sets to Ash Barty.
On Australian TV there were also disappointing figures with the Nine commercial network reporting a 40% decline during the finals weekend. The men’s final was down 300,000 (1.3M vs 1.6M) and the women’s was down a huge 2.83M (1.43M vs 4.26M). Although the 2022 women’s title match triggered huge interest in Australia due to the success of home player Barty. Throughout the entire tournament, Nine attracted a total audience of 10.064M compared to 12.5M in 2022.
However, it isn’t all doom and gloom. According to TV Blackbox, this year’s men’s final was actually first in the overnight metro ratings and interestingly outperformed Cricket’s Big Bash League – the knockout by almost 1M which was shown at the same time on network Seven. The metro ratings are based on TV viewership in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Both ESPN and Network Nine have recently signed deals to show the Australian Open. According to the Sports Business Journal, ESPN has signed a nine-year deal with Tennis Australia starting this year. Meanwhile, sen.com.au reports Nine will be the home broadcaster until at least 2030 in a deal worth in the region of AUS$500M.
This year’s Australian Open set a new attendance record of 839,192 fans through the gates.
