Women’s, Men’s Championships Live on ESPN
After 10 days of tennis’ first Major of 2019, the Australian Open, ESPN2’s audience is up 35% from a year ago for the live overnight telecasts, an average of 335,000 viewers (P2+) compared to 249,000 for the comparable date range in 2018.
The most-viewed telecast from Melbourne came the 10th night of coverage, Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 9 p.m. ET. That six-hour window – which included Karolina Pliskova’s shocking third-set comeback victory over Serena Williams – averaged 631,000 viewers, the best for any Australian Open match telecast since 2017 (excluding semifinals and championships). The telecast peaked with 1,366,000 viewers from 11-11:15 p.m., the end of that match.
Looking ahead to matches on ESPN and ESPN Deportes:
- Late tonight at 3:30 a.m. ET, the second men’s semifinal sees top-seeded Novak Djokovic play No. 28 Lucas Pouille.
- The women’s championship is very late Friday night at 3:30 a.m. with No. 4 Naomi Osaka – attempting to win her second straight Major – against No. 8 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion. The winner will be the new No. 1 player in the world. Chris Fowler will call the action alongside Chrissie Evert with Pam Shriver courtside.
- The men’s championship is 24 hours later, very late Saturday into Sunday morning at 3:30 a.m. Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 seed, will face off against the Djokovic-Pouille winner. Fowler will share the booth with John and Patrick McEnroe while Brad Gilbert reports from the sideline.
“Bonus Coverage” adds 15% to Schedule
Through 10 days of coverage, ESPN has aired nearly 110 live hours of action from Melbourne, an increase of 15% from the scheduled 95.5 hours, thanks to long-running matches extending the telecast windows in the morning hours.
2019 AUSTRALIAN OPEN, January 24-27
(For these charts, all times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.
Therefore, the listing Thu., Jan. 24, at 3:30 a.m. ET is actually very late on Thursday night.)
| Date | Time (ET) | Event | Network(s) | |
| Jan 24-27 | First ball to last ball each day | Australian Open – up to 16 courts | ESPN+, ESPN3
on ESPN app |
LIVE |
| Thu, Jan 24 | 11 p.m. | Mixed Doubles Semifinals
Women’s Doubles Championship |
ESPN+ | LIVE |
| 3:30 – 6 a.m. | Men’s Semifinal #2
Novak Djokovic vs Lucas Pouille |
ESPN
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | |
| Fri, Jan 25 | 2 – 5 p.m. | Men’s Semifinal #2 | ESPN2 | Encore |
| 9 p.m. | Boys’ and Girls’ Championships | ESPN+ | LIVE | |
| 3:30 – 5:30 a.m. | Women’s Championship
Naomi Osaka vs Petra Kvitova |
ESPN
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | |
| 5:30 a.m. | Men’s Doubles Championship | ESPN+ | LIVE | |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 9 a.m. – Noon | Women’s Championship
Naomi Osaka vs Petra Kvitova |
ESPN2 | Encore |
| MID | Mixed Doubles Championship | ESPN+ | LIVE | |
| 3:30 – 6:30 a.m. | Men’s Championship | ESPN
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | |
| Sun, Jan 27 | 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. | Men’s Championship | ESPN2 | Encore |
| 11 p.m. –
1:30 a.m. |
Men’s Championship | ESPN2 | Encore |
-30-
Media Contact: Dave Nagle (dave.nagle@espn.com)
-
-
-
-
-
