Record ratings for Tennis Channel
June 11, 2015
LOS ANGELES – Tennis Channel’s just-completed French Open coverage set new ratings highs for the network, both in average and single-day tune in. The channel’s live tournament coverage saw an average 0.72 household coverage-area rating, up 33 percent vs. 2014’s 0.54 average. The average 175,000 households in Nielsen metered markets across two weeks was the highest in Tennis Channel’s history in Paris.
In addition to live-match tune in, total-day (6 a.m.-3 a.m.) network ratings increased 33 percent in 2015, to 0.36 from 0.27 last year’s French Open coverage. Also, household coverage-area ratings for nightly interview and recap show French Open Tonight were up 32 percent, 0.41 vs. 0.31 in 2014.
Monday, June 1, was Tennis Channel’s strongest day of the tournament, with a 0.56 coverage-area rating for total day. In fact, the network’s 993,000 unduplicated homes in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets represented the greatest household tune in in network history. Driving viewers to Tennis Channel’s five-and-a-half hour live coverage window that day was the all-American battle between eventual French Open winner Serena Williams and young star Sloane Stephens, as well as up-and-comer Jack Sock’s competitive match against nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
This is the ninth year that Tennis Channel has televised the French Open from day one through day 15 (May 24-June 7). Since its first year of coverage the network has established itself as the tournament’s on-air home for fans, putting as much of the prestigious event on television as possible, with daylong match telecasts followed by nightly review, analysis and encore replays.
“Our French Open ratings validate Tennis Channel’s commitment to broadcasting first-match through last-match coverage on TV each year for fans,” said Doug Martz, senior vice president, advertising sales, Tennis Channel. “With each passing year, more fans of our sport come to see Tennis Channel as the always-on, default channel on their television sets, and the numbers we saw this year in Paris – and really so far in 2015 overall – reflect that trend.”
This has been an especially strong year for Tennis Channel. For each of the first 23 weeks of 2015, network audiences have grown vs. the equivalent week in 2014, by an average 30 percent in household coverage-area rating – 0.13 vs. 0.10. Some of the year’s larger events saw the highest audience gains. Tennis Channel’s household coverage-area ratings at the Australian Open, the year’s first major, were up 31 percent above 2014, to 0.64 from 0.49. March competitions in Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami – commonly referred to as “fifth slams” – also generated ratings growth. Ratings for Indian Wells were up 59 percent from last year, at 0.43 vs. 0.27, while Miami’s audience grew 32 percent this spring, 0.37 from 0.28.