ESPN Ratings: Sloane Stephens-Madison Keys Post Best ESPN U.S. Open Tennis Women’s Final Audience To-Date

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Ratings News and Notes

• The “U.S. Open” tennis tournament on ESPN and ESPN2 from Aug. 28-Sep. 10 averaged 949,000 viewers and 272,000 adults 18-49, up 8 percent (in viewers) and up 22 percent (among adults 18-49) from last year (Aug. 28-Sep. 11, 2016 on ESPN and ESPN2: 881,000 viewers/222,000 adults 18-49).

  Also compared to last year, the Sep. 5 evening session of the quarterfinals was up 9 percent (1.321 million vs. 1.212 million); the Sep. 6 evening session of the quarterfinals that featured Juan Martin Del Potro’s victory over Roger Federer was up 60 percent (ESPN’s 1.963 million vs. ESPN2’s 1.226 million); the Sep. 7 women’s semifinals that were entirely comprised of players from the United States were up 35 percent (1.957 million vs. 1.446 million); the Sep. 8 men’s semifinals that featured Rafael Nadal’s win over Juan Martin Del Potro were up 14 percent (1.091 million vs. 0.958 million); the Sep. 9 women’s finals with Sloane Stephens defeating Madison Keys drew the best viewership for a women’s championship on ESPN since the network began exclusive U.S. Open coverage in 2015 and were up 26 percent (1.851 million vs. 1.464 million; up 16 percent from two years ago: 1.851 million vs. 1.601 million); and, the Sep. 10 men’s finals that earned Rafael Nadal’s 16th career grand slam title victory were down 11 percent (1.483 million vs. 1.669 million).

  However, 2017 was also down 25 percent (in viewers) and down 24 percent (among adults 18-49) from two years ago (Aug. 31-Sep. 13, 2015 on ESPN and ESPN2: 1.263 million viewers/369,000 adults 18-49),

• The Sep. 10 Phoenix Mercury-Connecticut Sun second-round single-elimination game in the “2017 WNBA Playoffs” on ESPN2 in the early afternoon (111,000 viewers) was 12 percent below the year-ago comparable ESPN2 WNBA playoff telecast on a Sunday afternoon, Atlanta-Chicago (126,000 viewers on Sep. 25, 2016).

ESPN Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN is up 35 percent (2.386,000 vs. 1,761,000) from one week earlier and down 2 percent (2,386,000 vs. 2,444,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN is up 13 percent (911,000 vs. 805,000) from one week earlier and down 9 percent (911,000 vs. 1,000,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

ESPN’s daily programs viewership averages for the week:

• “First Take” (ESPN, Sep. 4-8 10 a.m.): 487,000 (287,000 adults 18-49)
• “Outside the Lines: First Report” (ESPN, Sep. 7-8): 287,000 (165,000 adults 18-49)
• “NFL Live” (ESPN, Sep. 7-8): 378,000 (202,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsNation” (ESPN, Sep. 7-8): 361,000 (196,000 adults 18-49)
• “Around the Horn” (ESPN, Sep. 7): 452,000 (225,000 adults 18-49)
• “Pardon the Interruption” (ESPN, Sep. 6-7): 559000 (217,000 adults 18-49)
• “Daily Fantasy Show” (ESPN, Sep. 7): 294,000 (168,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 4-8 7 a.m.): 304,000 (182,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 4-8 8 a.m.): 329,000 (199,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 4-8 9 a.m.): 372,000 (228,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 5-7 6 p.m.): 458,000 (232,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 7-8 & 10 11 p.m.): 544,000 (264,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN, Sep. 4, 6-8 & 10 midnight): 742,000 (394,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter at Night” (ESPN, Sep. 4, 6-8 & 10 1 a.m.): 488,000 (271,000 adults 18-49)

ESPN2 Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPN2 is down 33 percent (571,000 vs. 848,000) from one week earlier and down 38 percent (571,000 vs. 927,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPN2 is down 7 percent (337,000 vs. 364,000) from one week earlier and down 30 percent (337,000 vs. 482,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

ESPN2’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

• “Mike & Mike in the Morning” (ESPN2, Sep. 4-8): 177,000 (81,000 adults 18-49)
• “College Football Live” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-8): 161,000 (81,000 adults 18-49)
• “MLB Network’s Intentional Talk” (ESPN2, Sep. 7): 77,000 (40,000 adults 18-49)
• “The Paul Finebaum Show” (ESPN2, Sep. 7-8): 82,000 (29,000 adults 18-49)
• “Daily Fantasy Football” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-8): 146,000 (81,000 adults 18-49)
• “Jalen & Jacoby” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6 & 8 late night): 114,000 (75,000 adults 18-49)
• “Best of Mike & Mike in the Morning” (ESPN2, Late Sep. 5 & 7 5 a.m.): 43,000 (18,000 adults 18-49)
• “Outside the Lines: First Report” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6): 154,000 (89,000 adults 18-49)
• “NFL Live” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6): 244,000 (127,000 adults 18-49)
• “NBA: The Jump” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6): 218,000 (108,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsNation” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6): 211,000 (108,000 adults 18-49)
• “Highly Questionable” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6): 239,000 (120,000 adults 18-49)
• “Around the Horn” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-6 & 8): 294,000 (132,000 adults 18-49)
• “Pardon the Interruption” (ESPN2, Sep. 5 & 8): 477,000 (187,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 4-8 10 a.m.): 164,000 (70,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 5-8 11 a.m.): 138,000 (70,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 8 6 p.m.): 281,000 (158,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 5 10:30 p.m.): 184,000 (115,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 5 11 p.m.): 194,000 (124,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 5 midnight): 185,000 (126,000 adults 18-49)
• “SportsCenter” (ESPN2, Sep. 5 1 a.m.): 157,000 (117,000 adults 18-49)

ESPNU Top 25 (and Select) Programs

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In total viewership for its entire week in Prime Time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), ESPNU is up 6 percent (133,000 vs. 126,000) from one week earlier and down 38 percent (133,000 vs. 213,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

In total viewership for its entire week in Total Day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.), ESPNU is down 3 percent (72,000 vs. 74,000) from one week earlier and down 27 percent (72,000 vs. 98,000) from the same week one year ago (September 5-11, 2016).

ESPNU’s daily show viewership averages for the week:

• “The Dan Le Batard Show” (ESPNU, Sep. 5-6): 23,000 (14,000 adults 18-49)
• “The Paul Finebaum Show” (ESPNU, Sep. 4-6): 69,000 (26,000 adults 18-49)

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research