The TV ratings and viewership for the 2023 US Open were revealed recently. The women’s singles final fared better than the men’s, but both were dwarfed by NFL and NCAA Football numbers. Tennis fans on social media reacted to the statistics, suggesting many possible reasons behind this gulf. And competing against NFL is never going to help.
Advertisement
The viewership in the USA remains low for their Grand Slam. Contrastingly, the French Open had much higher domestic viewing numbers. Watchers in the United States, however, had to deal with the ESPN blackout midway through the tournament. A corporate dispute between ESPN owners Disney and cable provider Spectrum meant ESPN was abruptly pulled for millions of Spectrum users.
Fans react to low US Open ratings and viewership
The women’s singles US Open final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka drew comparatively higher numbers. With 3.42 million watchers, it garnered a favorable rating of 0.72. The women’s summit clash happened on a Saturday (September 9), when no NFL games were scheduled. Additionally, with local hope Gauff on the court, it can be assumed more Americans tuned in to the final.
The men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev faced a tougher time. Played on a Sunday which also saw a full NFL schedule, it attracted 2.32 million viewers and a rating of only 0.46.
Fans on Twitter (now X) reacted to the relatively low numbers raked in by the two finals in New York. One fan pointed out how the domestic viewership for the US Open is low despite the USA’s huge population. He compared it to Roland Garros, which had more local watchers than the US Open despite France having a much smaller population.
One thing that never fails to disappoint me is how small domestic TV audience for US Open is. I mean, we celebrate each time it exceeds 3M… in a country with population of 330M.
This year’s RG men’s final was watched, on average, by 4.8M French viewers. Population: <70M.— Oleg S. (@AnnaK_4ever) September 12, 2023
A few other users pointed out that the finals clashed with NFL Week 1, which grabbed all the ratings. While there were no games on Saturday, the men’s singles final was competing with a packed schedule of 14 NFL matches on Sunday.
A reality of having the men’s final on cable running against the first week of the NFL, which is the biggest ratings monster in this country. USTA has never been too interested in avoiding that. I was actually positively surprised by the numbers, honestly.
— Juan José (@jjvallejoa) September 12, 2023
The final would have been viewed way more if it wasn’t competing against NFL let alone week 1 of NFL
They need to change the schedule for the US Open by either putting the match at a different time/weekend
— Country Club Betz (@CountryClubBetz) September 12, 2023
On Sunday all my feed was about NFL. I never knew who won until Monday’s morning lol
— Tim (@TimRigg89956201) September 12, 2023
Men’s final … first, Sunday of NFL.
Americans don’t play about football.
— S.Nunn (@getsomesense9) September 12, 2023
More American users said other sports have better viewing facilities and programs. They claimed tennis is not readily and freely available in the USA, like how one fan said the French Open was in France.
RG is on france 2 a free public channel, not sure what the equivalent to that in the us…
— Melanie Lautrup (@melanie_lautrup) September 12, 2023
Totally unfair comparison. It’s a pain in the ass (and just plain impossible for many) to try and figure out which steamer/channel is carrying it & to pay for that access. And then this year to find out ESPN only carries limited coverage.
— funnyface (@veronicamariez2) September 12, 2023
Everything else is far easier to watch.
NFL has a package, NBA has a package, MLB has a package, F1 has a dedicated website/app that covers EVERY weekend.
Tennis has
Tennis TV
Davis Cup Rakuten
Bits of some tournaments on ESPN
Some on NBC/Peacock
Pickleball on Tennis Channel— Aoun Jafarey (@ajafarey) September 12, 2023
It’s harder to watch and follow tennis in the US. Simple, really.
— @tennis (@tnnstea) September 12, 2023
Few fans pointed out that the Disney-Spectrum issue negatively affected numbers. They believed that had this dispute not happened, the US Open would have gotten higher ratings.
Add +1 for my 82 year old Mom who was VERY upset she missed the entire tormurnament because Disney & Charter Communications couldn’t get it together & solve the ESPN issue. That viewership number could have been so much higher.
— wendy (@wowindc) September 12, 2023
And this is also some people not able to watch because of the fight between Disney and some cable company in New York. Just imagine if they were able to watch it, the numbers could be crazy.
— Comfort Agyemfra (@CAgyemfra) September 12, 2023
It would have been even higher if it wasn’t for the pissing-for-profit contest between Spectrum and Disney
— Popod (@Popod19) September 12, 2023
It would have been even higher if it wasn’t for the pissing-for-profit contest between Spectrum and Disney
— Popod (@Popod19) September 12, 2023
Imagine what the ratings would have been if @GetSpectrum hadn’t been blocking all Disney channels to their customers.
— Bee K (@BKNY1999) September 13, 2023
Streaming/telecasting issues is a problem faced not only by American tennis fans, but by fans all over the world.
Tennis continues to suffer because of off-field issues
All the aforementioned reasons discussed by fans have contributed to the US Open finals, as well as tennis in general, having low numbers in the USA. Many other countries around the globe do not have a fixed broadcaster for tennis tournaments. Some countries, despite being huge potential markets, do not get to see all tennis events across the year.
India, for example, has a fixed broadcaster for Grand Slams but does not telecast any ATP/WTA competitions. For that, viewers in India have to access other means and pay extra. A similar story can be found in many countries, making tennis inaccessible to the masses.
Even players are not spared. Medvedev confessed to using pirated streams to watch matches in the USA because of the Disney-Spectrum dispute. The financial standoff between the two companies over carriage fees and payments meant that Spectrum cable subscribers missed out on crucial portions of the US Open. The higher-ups in tennis need to ensure such debacles do not repeat and that the sport grows and reaches a wide audience.
