Record breaking audience figures have made the 2012 French Open the best ever on Eurosport.
The 2012 tournament attracted an average live audience of 1.1 million viewers on Eurosport, a rise of 7% on the 2011 tournament, which held the previous best live audience average.
Nadal’s historic seventh Roland Garros victory and the return of Maria Sharapova helped to generate the largest ever audience reach for any Grand Slam tennis tournament on Eurosport and Eurosport 2. A total of 61.2M different viewers tuned in to the event during the two week period, beating the previous best figures for a Grand Slam set by the 2011 US Open by 7%.
Extensive daily coverage of the tournament on Eurosport and Eurosport 2 featured 292 hours of broadcast including 207 hours of live action.
National performances were strongest in Spain where average live audiences increased by + 100% and by + 75% respectively in Poland vs. 2011.
In addition, the Sharapova – Errani match was the best women’s final since 1994 in terms of live average audience with 1.9 million viewers.
Eurosport’s in-house production also contributed to the rise in popularity of the tournament on the channel. “Game, Set and Mats”, Eurosport’s exclusive on site live show hosted by Mats Wilander in evening primetime was watched by its largest ever audience. The programme reached 21.5 million different viewers throughout the tournament on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, +13% vs 2011.
2012 French Open audiences confirm the strength and the quality of Eurosport’s Grand Slam tennis offer. French and US Opens rights were renewed in January, respectively through 2014 and 2017 editions. An Australian Open multi-year contract was renewed in 2011.
French open audiences also contributed to the positive audience growth of Eurosport Group TV audiences for first half of 2012. From 2 January to 10 June, TV audiences across the Eurosport Group rose by 12%, compared to the same period in 2011.
Sources: AGF/GfK, BARB, SKO, MMS, TNS-Gallup, Kantar Media, AGB NMR, Armadata/Kantar, Auditel, Mediametrie – Techedge