U.S. Open Tennis 30 Years Of U.S. TV Ratings

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.