U.S. Open TV Ratings off to a slower start in the Nielsens.

tennisaddict

tennisaddict

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Absent last year’s drama of Serena Williams going for the calendar Grand Slam, this year’s U.S. Open has gotten off to a slower start in the Nielsens.

Coverage of the U.S. Open has averaged 599,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2 through Wednesday, down 30% from last year (853K) but up 11% from 2014 (540K). In the past five years, this year’s average ranks directly in the middle of the pack — behind 2015 and 2013, but ahead of 2014 and 2012.

All eight telecast windows have declined from last year, with six of the eight down by more than a quarter.

As should be no surprise, the most-watched telecast thus far was Tuesday’s night session featuring Serena Williams. The window had 844,000 viewers on ESPN, down 9% from last year (926K) and down 8% from 2014 (918K).

Wednesday’s night session, which featured Rafael Nadal, pulled 721,000 — down 32% from last year (1.1M) but up 22% from 2014 (591K).

Monday’s window, which featured Novak Djokovic and Madison Keys, had just 501,000 (-48%).

U.S. OPEN VIEWERSHIP
First three days
Day Session Net Vwrs. 2015 +/-
Monday Day ESPN 484K 680K -29%
ESPN2 362K 677K -47%
Night ESPN2 501K 962K -48%
Tuesday Day ESPN 580K 651K -11%
Night ESPN 844K 926K -9%
Wednesday Day ESPN 619K 953K -35%
ESPN2 474K 701K -32%
Night ESPN2 721K 1.07M -33%

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2016/09/us-open-ratings-espn-viewership-tennis-serena/
 
Why do they put WTA matches with non brand popular players on Ashe? Could this contribute to rating decline? They have two non Americans on Ashe on Sunday labor day weekend at 11am.
 
TupeloDanger said:
Lol @ putting a clickbait site up as meaningful evidence of anything. Cracked.com didn't have anything substantial to offer?
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You didn't know that Serena and Rafa fans are old school and watch on TV while Novak fans watch on streams which these ratings don't account for ?
 
TupeloDanger said:
Lol @ putting a clickbait site up as meaningful evidence of anything. Cracked.com didn't have anything substantial to offer?
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Since when is Pajiba a clickbait site? Answer: Never.

But let's stay on topic, unless you're going to try to claim Huffingtonpost is also clickbait? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-c-smith/reinventing-the-tv-rating_b_3226285.html

Or how about The Wall Street Journal? http://www.wsj.com/articles/cnbc-to-stop-using-nielsen-for-ratings-1420520556
 
LetsPlayFBI said:
Why do they put WTA matches with non brand popular players on Ashe? Could this contribute to rating decline? They have two non Americans on Ashe on Sunday labor day weekend at 11am.
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They're forward looking. Something the ATP is only just starting to figure out. They're trying to build Konta like they built Madison Keys and like the men's tour has tried to build Kyrigos. Tennis is in for a rude awakening if the tour forgets to invest in future stars.
 
US Open is the largest pay day for the WTA players by far. It's not so much as "grand plan" but get what you can and run with it as they build their brand and grow their audience. It's well published the WTA Plan is to merge with as many ATP tournaments as possible. It will be interesting to see how it plays out as they are making good traction Indian Wells, Miami, Cincy, Madrid, Rome, Brisbane etc.

ATP and WTA have little influence over US Open as it's a separate property. I believe it's more symbolic as the USTA is non profit and doesn't want any controversy with regards to gender equality even if it brings increased ratings. I think thats why you see more women's draw than men's draw on Ashe. USTA will make plenty of money no matter who is on Ashe. It's certainly run differently than say Wimbledon which organizes the schedule around tennis more so than cultural or political influences.
 
jm1980 said:
Another Fedtart who was conveniently missing from this thread:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/record-attendances-at-this-year-us-open.572096/

More bums in seats in spite of Fed announcing his withdrawal months ago... TV numbers are increasingly more irrelevant in an age of streaming and cord cutting
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Contrary to what you think, the people watching on TV far outnumbers the few that watch on cheap, free stream.

And I am sure legal streams are factored in other ratings (perhaps not in Nielsens) , as they have commercials.
 
LetsPlayFBI said:
US Open is the largest pay day for the WTA players by far. It's not so much as "grand plan" but get what you can and run with it as they build their brand and grow their audience. It's well published the WTA Plan is to merge with as many ATP tournaments as possible. It will be interesting to see how it plays out as they are making good traction Indian Wells, Miami, Cincy, Madrid, Rome, Brisbane etc.

ATP and WTA have little influence over US Open as it's a separate property. I believe it's more symbolic as the USTA is non profit and doesn't want any controversy with regards to gender equality even if it brings increased ratings. I think thats why you see more women's draw than men's draw on Ashe. USTA will make plenty of money no matter who is on Ashe. It's certainly run differently than say Wimbledon which organizes the schedule around tennis more so than cultural or political influences.
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I believe the fact that there are more women's matches on Ashe than men's is because the women's matches are shorter than men's. Two men's + one women's match during the day session would eat into the 7pm start time of the night session way more often than it already does.
 
You left out this line from the article..."Keep in mind last year’s comparable windows featured either Serena or Venus Williams." I'm sure that was just an oversight. Serena was going for CYGS, and both her and Venus were the night matches in those ratings. They will always pull higher ratings than Nadal, Djokovic and even Federer in the US. Nothing really to see here. Also, WWE Raw was on Monday night in the US which pulled 3.3 - 3.4 million viewers, also NFL preseason which pulled 700,000 viewers, and MLB which pulled 532,000 viewers. Nadal only had NFL preseason which pulled 911,000 viewers on while his match was on so it had nothing to do with Djokovic. I only watched one Djokovic match which was Sunday and the stadium was packed. That's all that matters.
 
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Stan - Delpo match - upper section totally empty.

CrzmZonWgAAS9Tu
 
tennisaddict said:
********* as usual with hopeless defense about streaming.

Why does Djoko continue to get lesser viewership than a wrist injured Rafa ? Is it because Djoko fans view online while Rafa fans view exclusively on TV ? LOL
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What do you think Djokovic should do? Retire? Would that help?
 
Hitman said:
What do you think Djokovic should do? Retire? Would that help?
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From a standpoint of tennisaddict health that could be helpful. However, there is no guarantee that such therapy would be efficient. It is quite possible that someone else would step up, Murray as an example, and start threatening 17 leading to return of all signs/symptoms.
 
Except for the nfl and nba i think ratings for all sports in the usa have been trending down ward. I am not sure what they actually mean as far as the overall health of any particular sport. These sports channels need to show something.
 
LetsPlayFBI said:
Why do they put WTA matches with non brand popular players on Ashe? Could this contribute to rating decline? They have two non Americans on Ashe on Sunday labor day weekend at 11am.
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I can't get a sense of the Arthur Ashe night lineup. Sometimes they have two marquee matches, but sometimes the second match, ATP or WTA, is like "People are probably heading home early tonight let's put whatever crap out there we have left."
 
Hitman said:
What do you think Djokovic should do? Retire? Would that help?
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Djokovic cannot do anything at this juncture to make his game more appealing to the masses. That ship has sailed.

However his fan base can stop concocting stories about record crowds, shifting TV audience , etc.,

Truth is there are more people happy to see him go down than see him succeed. The ones that like him are for his numbers. I am pretty sure if Troicki ended up with 12 majors they would like him as well.
 
tennisaddict said:
Djokovic cannot do anything at this juncture to make his game more appealing to the masses. That ship has sailed.

However his fan base can stop concocting stories about record crowds, shifting TV audience , etc.,

Truth is there are more people happy to see him go down than see him succeed. The ones that like him are for his numbers. I am pretty sure if Troicki ended up with 12 majors they would like him as well.
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Why would anyone concoct stories about record crowds when the tournament itself puts out that information? Also, Djokovic played to a packed house Sunday to Edmund and it also looked packed against Tsonga. If you don't think he is a big draw then you have some serious issues. Wait...nevermind.
 
tennisaddict said:
Stan - Delpo match - upper section totally empty.

CrzmZonWgAAS9Tu
Click to expand...

In fairness, why on earth would you want to sit *there* to watch a tennis match? I know there is the whole "I was there" bragging rights crap, but seriously. A tennis court is what, roughly 40'x80'? You really want to sit a tennis court or more higher, and a couple courts away from the actual match? I watched my buddy play a local tournament and was a court over. Sheesh, that was difficult to watch. Can't imagine being halfway up the Empire State Building would be a good place to watch a match..
 
NoleFam said:
Why would anyone concoct stories about record crowds when the tournament itself puts out that information? Also, Djokovic played to a packed house Sunday to Edmund and it also looked packed against Tsonga. If you don't think he is a big draw then you have some serious issues. Wait...nevermind.
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No, no, a random photo is far more convincing than the actual ticket sales and attendance numbers.
 
NoleFam said:
Why would anyone concoct stories about record crowds when the tournament itself puts out that information? Also, Djokovic played to a packed house Sunday to Edmund and it also looked packed against Tsonga. If you don't think he is a big draw then you have some serious issues. Wait...nevermind.
Click to expand...

Because the USTA is going to put out whatever makes it look good, and gloss over details. ie. they have built two new courts (I believe,there's at least one) plus they ended up needing to use the old grandstand. Real easy to have record attendance when you built up the facility to hold more people. Plus, attendance is tickets sold, not people who show up. Context matters.

Djokovic may well have played in front of packed houses, and he may be the reason people are there. That's one debate. But there are two truths in sports: 1)athletes lie, and 2)never trust numbers or other information given out by organizers of an event/game. Use your noggin and think for yourself. Question what they say once in a while, because you will find they will play you for a fool if you let them. they care about money, first, last and always. The rest is just ancillary to that end. (ie, if they think issuing a bunch of press releases about "record crowds" will lead to more money somehow, they're going to find a way to make that statement, and bet on the fact few people will call them on their BS.)
 
Bluefan75 said:
Because the USTA is going to put out whatever makes it look good, and gloss over details. ie. they have built two new courts (I believe,there's at least one) plus they ended up needing to use the old grandstand. Real easy to have record attendance when you built up the facility to hold more people. Plus, attendance is tickets sold, not people who show up. Context matters.

Djokovic may well have played in front of packed houses, and he may be the reason people are there. That's one debate. But there are two truths in sports: 1)athletes lie, and 2)never trust numbers or other information given out by organizers of an event/game. Use your noggin and think for yourself. Question what they say once in a while, because you will find they will play you for a fool if you let them. they care about money, first, last and always. The rest is just ancillary to that end. (ie, if they think issuing a bunch of press releases about "record crowds" will lead to more money somehow, they're going to find a way to make that statement, and bet on the fact few people will call them on their BS.)
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What does "athletes lie" have to do with anything? Are ATP players giving press releases on tournament attendance now? It is always some conspiracy according to some people, but I don't think anyone cares enough.
 
NoleFam said:
What does "athletes lie" have to do with anything? Are ATP players giving press releases on tournament attendance now? It is always some conspiracy according to some people, but I don't think anyone cares enough.
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So a deflection instead of addressing the point. Got it.
 
Bluefan75 said:
So a deflection instead of addressing the point. Got it.
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I don't want to be dismissive of your stance because there may be some truth to it. However, the matches I saw for Djokovic, Nadal, Serena, etc. were packed. I think we got off topic here which was about ratings.
 
NoleFam said:
I don't want to be dismissive of your stance because there may be some truth to it. However, the matches I saw for Djokovic, Nadal, Serena, etc. were packed. I think we got off topic here which was about ratings.
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Which I said Djokovic may well have played to packed houses, and he may well have been the reason for them. But I was just cautioning against hitching your wagon to "well the USTA says it was record crowds" to support your theory. For me his defensive tennis might be a bit of a bore, but the rankings and the rules of tennis are known ahead of time, and based on them, he is clearly the number 1 player, and as such, there is a certain draw to that, and no doubt some respect as well, that brings crowds in. Heck, even the fact he has to deal with the crowd actively and disruptively rooting against him(which I do think crosses the lines far too many times, and again, I'm no fan of his), is a good thing in that defense. Kind of like the Yankees, you love them or hate them, but most likely you're watching.

As far as ratings, I started another thread about ESPN's decision-making when it comes to what they are showing etc. I guess media never attacks its own, but it is quite annoying that no one will ever touch the quality of the broadcast when discussing ratings drops. It can't ever be because they spend far too much time showing people sitting at a desk or chairs by practice courts("it feels just like a regular club!!"), or because they politicize beyond belief wherever they can(I'm willing to concede the fellow with the dreadlocks is probably good at something, but television and tennis commentary is not it, so why is he on there?). I can tell you I am someone who *wants to watch* the US Open, or almost any tennis tournament for that matter, but a lot of times, ESPN makes me change the channel. I just can't put up with what they are putting on. But again, that never gets discussed, because the media is this "club" that if you are in, you are immune to criticism and no matter what you do, if an "outsider" comes after you, we will defend you till the outsider's death.
 
Bluefan75 said:
Which I said Djokovic may well have played to packed houses, and he may well have been the reason for them. But I was just cautioning against hitching your wagon to "well the USTA says it was record crowds" to support your theory. For me his defensive tennis might be a bit of a bore, but the rankings and the rules of tennis are known ahead of time, and based on them, he is clearly the number 1 player, and as such, there is a certain draw to that, and no doubt some respect as well, that brings crowds in. Heck, even the fact he has to deal with the crowd actively and disruptively rooting against him(which I do think crosses the lines far too many times, and again, I'm no fan of his), is a good thing in that defense. Kind of like the Yankees, you love them or hate them, but most likely you're watching.

As far as ratings, I started another thread about ESPN's decision-making when it comes to what they are showing etc. I guess media never attacks its own, but it is quite annoying that no one will ever touch the quality of the broadcast when discussing ratings drops. It can't ever be because they spend far too much time showing people sitting at a desk or chairs by practice courts("it feels just like a regular club!!"), or because they politicize beyond belief wherever they can(I'm willing to concede the fellow with the dreadlocks is probably good at something, but television and tennis commentary is not it, so why is he on there?). I can tell you I am someone who *wants to watch* the US Open, or almost any tennis tournament for that matter, but a lot of times, ESPN makes me change the channel. I just can't put up with what they are putting on. But again, that never gets discussed, because the media is this "club" that if you are in, you are immune to criticism and no matter what you do, if an "outsider" comes after you, we will defend you till the outsider's death.
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I like how you hypothesize about a USTA attendance conspiracy on one hand, and then accept neilson ratings as factual and relevant without question or context on the other.
 
tennisaddict said:
Contrary to what you think, the people watching on TV far outnumbers the few that watch on cheap, free stream.

And I am sure legal streams are factored in other ratings (perhaps not in Nielsens) , as they have commercials.
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Djokovic biggest fan base are youngsters.Most of them don't even think about getting the cable.About 90% of my costumers who follow tennis do not have cable and why would they when you can watch almost any match aside FO on ESPN3.And another thing sport is very popular outside US.Djokovic will never had Federer or Nadal following but tennis in US is not loosing viewership over him.Aside from Fedal US crowd have very little interest in a sport where Americans do not dominate.USTA is doing terrible job advertising sport to minorities who will become majority soon,there are no personalities in sport in part thanks to fans who kill anyone who is honest for a second.And tennis is still stuck in the past.Millenials dont care about tradition so make sport more appealing to them by changing rules,die hards will always watch we will complain but we will watch
 
NoleFam said:
Why would anyone concoct stories about record crowds when the tournament itself puts out that information? Also, Djokovic played to a packed house Sunday to Edmund and it also looked packed against Tsonga. If you don't think he is a big draw then you have some serious issues. Wait...nevermind.
Click to expand...

Well, you saw the record crowds in the picture... USTA lies to keep the hype machine going over its new roof, new grandstand and tearing down Louis Armstrong. The guys who bought the tickets are corporate ticket holders and not actual bums on the seats. The corporate guys were in the bar or the suites.

The only thing that is relevant to this thread is Djokovic's tv show rating is time and again lesser than Fed and Rafa , inspite of his fan base cooking up stories to say his popularity is rising, he has landed huge deals, etc.,
 
tennisaddict said:
Well, you saw the record crowds in the picture... USTA lies to keep the hype machine going over its new roof, new grandstand and tearing down Louis Armstrong. The guys who bought the tickets are corporate ticket holders and not actual bums on the seats. The corporate guys were in the bar or the suites.

The only thing that is relevant to this thread is Djokovic's tv show rating is time and again lesser than Fed and Rafa , inspite of his fan base cooking up stories to say his popularity is rising, he has landed huge deals, etc.,
Click to expand...

That argument you made about Nadal having higher ratings was already debunked in my earlier post since Novak had 3 other main US sporting events on while his match was on the 1st Monday. Rafa had 1 main US sporting event on while his match was on. Djokovic had 979,000 viewers Sunday night. That was better than NFL preseason and MLB which were on in the same slot. You are on some failed mission to prove that he is not a big draw in tennis, unpopular, boring, etc. The stands and the numbers say otherwise. He is the dominant force in men's tennis so of course people want to watch him. The proof is below...Next.

(http://sportstvratings.com/sportsce...-tv-ratings-for-sunday-september-4-2016/5778/)
 
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eagletennis said:
Djokovic biggest fan base are youngsters.Most of them don't even think about getting the cable.About 90% of my costumers who follow tennis do not have cable and why would they when you can watch almost any match aside FO on ESPN3.And another thing sport is very popular outside US.Djokovic will never had Federer or Nadal following but tennis in US is not loosing viewership over him.Aside from Fedal US crowd have very little interest in a sport where Americans do not dominate.USTA is doing terrible job advertising sport to minorities who will become majority soon,there are no personalities in sport in part thanks to fans who kill anyone who is honest for a second.And tennis is still stuck in the past.Millenials dont care about tradition so make sport more appealing to them by changing rules,die hards will always watch we will complain but we will watch
Click to expand...
You need cable or something similar (Playstation Vue) to use ESPN3.
 
NoleFam said:
That argument you made about Nadal having higher ratings was already debunked in my earlier post since Novak had 3 other main US sporting events on while his match was on the 1st Monday. Rafa had 1 main US sporting event on while his match was on. Djokovic had 979,000 viewers Sunday night which bested Rafa's numbers. That was better than NFL preseason and MLB which were on in the same slot. You are on some failed mission to prove that he is not a big draw in tennis, unpopular, boring, etc. The stands and the numbers say otherwise. He is the dominant force in men's tennis so of course people want to watch him. The proof is below...Next.

(http://sportstvratings.com/sportsce...-tv-ratings-for-sunday-september-4-2016/5778/)
Click to expand...

:D:D:D:D:D:D

"The proof" is one single day, in a time when Nadal has long since faded away from being the force he once was. Dig as deep as you want, the answer is immediately obvious to anyone that doesn't purposefully have blinders on. Novak has never approached the popularity of Nadal or Federer. Take a look around rec tennis, how many RF racquets do you see? How many Aero racquets? How many RF shirts or Rafa's shoes? I'd wager either of those guys sells twice as many racquets as Novak does, even today when their games(and popularity) have declined. Those two are the only tennis players on the men's side that have any pull with consumers. They are also the only two men that can get Americans in front of the television specifically to see them.

Of course ratings are down, there isn't a single guy that draws people to watch like those two did, now that both of them are not at the top of the game anymore.
 
NoleFam said:
That argument you made about Nadal having higher ratings was already debunked in my earlier post since Novak had 3 other main US sporting events on while his match was on the 1st Monday. Rafa had 1 main US sporting event on while his match was on. Djokovic had 979,000 viewers Sunday night. That was better than NFL preseason and MLB which were on in the same slot. You are on some failed mission to prove that he is not a big draw in tennis, unpopular, boring, etc. The stands and the numbers say otherwise. He is the dominant force in men's tennis so of course people want to watch him. The proof is below...Next.

(http://sportstvratings.com/sportsce...-tv-ratings-for-sunday-september-4-2016/5778/)
Click to expand...

Rafa/Pouille who played Sunday day time had at least 12% more viewership, not accounting the fact that the ladies 4R between two grandslam champions was the first feature match of the evening. Next..
 
Noveson said:
:D:D:D:D:D:D

"The proof" is one single day, in a time when Nadal has long since faded away from being the force he once was. Dig as deep as you want, the answer is immediately obvious to anyone that doesn't purposefully have blinders on. Novak has never approached the popularity of Nadal or Federer. Take a look around rec tennis, how many RF racquets do you see? How many Aero racquets? How many RF shirts or Rafa's shoes? I'd wager either of those guys sells twice as many racquets as Novak does, even today when their games(and popularity) have declined. Those two are the only tennis players on the men's side that have any pull with consumers. They are also the only two men that can get Americans in front of the television specifically to see them.

Of course ratings are down, there isn't a single guy that draws people to watch like those two did, now that both of them are not at the top of the game anymore.
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Of course Roger and Rafa are the most popular but that does not mean Novak is not popular himself. Only Rafa and Roger fanboys holding on to the glory days who want to diminish Djokovic think otherwise. Sunday daytime, which featured Rafa and American Madison Keys, drew 1.08 million viewers. Djokovic still pulled 979,000 that night while Sunday night MLB was on and bested their rating. Baseball is a more much popular sport is the US btw and that pretty much says it all.
 
tennisaddict said:
Rafa/Pouille who played Sunday day time had at least 12% more viewership, not accounting the fact that the ladies 4R between two grandslam champions was the first feature match of the evening. Next..
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Madison Keys also played in Rafa's slot so let's not forget that. Like Americans tuned to watch Kvitova and Kerber. If it isn't Venus, Serena or any American woman playing except besides Sharapova, Americans don't care. No one watches women's tennis here when foreigners are playing. The ratings have shown that over and over.
 
NoleFam said:
Like Americans tuned to watch Kvitova and Kerber. If it isn't Venus, Serena or any American woman playing except besides Sharapova, Americans don't care. No one watches women's tennis here when foreigners are playing. The ratings have shown that over and over.
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Well, ask any neutral observer which match they watched - Kvitova vs Kerber OR Novak vs Edmund and you will get your answer.

USTA also tries to schedule the marquee match upfront , which again shows Novak vs Edmund was a filler match. The match thread here for Novak vs Edmund was 3 pages long , mainly with folks not living in USA

And you didn't have any response to why late evening viewership (Novak) was 12% less than than Rafa. Next.
 
tacou said:
You need cable or something similar (Playstation Vue) to use ESPN3.
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No you dont.I playing it through my Roku just download espn app.You can't watch regular tv content on watchespn app but they are providing different feed with different announcers for streaming only channel
 
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