Record-breaking Roland Garros for Eurosport
Serena didn’t play in Paris this year. Neither did Maria, Roger, Vika. This led some people to expect a reduced interest in the French Open beforehand, and to contemplate if the tournament was shooting itself in the foot by denying the one star they had the power to invite.
It turned to be not an issue at all, at least according to Eurosport viewer figures. According to a press release by the company, the number of viewers in 2017 was a record 18% higher compared to the previous year.
According to Eurosport, a number of other players brought in the fans. Romania’s Halep helped increase the viewers from that country by 47% over 2016; her semifinal was watched by 780,000 of her compatriots, which was the second largest audience in the history of Eurosport in Romania across all sports. Nadal’s quest for a tenth title brought in the Spaniards, with an all-time record of 62,000 average Spanish viewers per match, a year-to-year increase of 60% (previous record was 41,000 average viewers per match, in 2012). And the return of Caroline Wozniacki after missing last year’s French Open caused Denmark to post the highest increase in viewers across all countries, a record 123% improvement in viewers.
Eurosport executives also credit their shows where matches are discussed and analyzed. They attribute their gains of 20% in Germany and Sweden, 18% in Norway, and 15% in Italy to Boris Becker’s commentary, and to Wilander/Schett’s, Mouratoglou’s, and McEnroe’s frequent segments. Particularly the latter are aimed outside the hardcore fans, wanting to bring casual viewers to tennis during the grand slams.
Most watched match among both men’s and women’s across Europe was the semifinal between Halep and Pliskova, with 2,942,000 average viewers.
:wiiii:
Et après on dit que le tennis féminin est moins regardé que le tennis masculin et que Simona n’est pas une Star, c’est une superstar en Roumanie, elle peut même pas sortir de chez elle sans avoir 2 paparazi sur la gueule :sleep:
