Tennis is a sport with a long history behind it and one that has always appealed to those in the US. Despite this, it is also true to say that tennis has sometimes struggled to attract as many viewers as other top sports. Tennis, though, seems to have expanded its audience in recent times and hasmade concerted efforts to draw more people into watching it.
But is the viewership for tennis on the rise currently and how does this compare to other popular sports?
How does the viewership for other sports stack up?
There are some big sports out there that tennis competes with for viewers. In the USA, for example, football hoovers up around 38.8% of the sports viewership market.
It also holds a TV viewing record of 111.9 million, which is tough for tennis to match. The NFL is the major player here and the top pro league in football. People love it not only for its awesome action but also the chance to bet on games. To find out more about the best promo codes for football betting, click here.
When you look at the viewership figures for other sports and how much of the market they take home, it gets even tougher for tennis to compete. Basketball, for example, accounts for 15.3% of the US viewing public currently, with baseball at 14.8%, soccer at 8.2% and hockey 3.8%.
Is tennis viewership on the rise in recent years?
The viewing figures for tennis certainly seem to have been rising in the last few years. Eurosport reported a 20% growth in global digital viewing for Grand Slam events in 2019, and the BBC reported a record-breaking online streaming audience of 53.8 million for Wimbledon 2022.
Viewing figures for other major tournaments also seem to confirm an upward trajectory for tennis in particular. As 2021’s US Open viewing figures show, last year’s event averaged 881,000 viewers in prime time, which represented a 33% increase in viewers from the previous year’s event.
This shows that tennis viewership is not only up in the US but also across the rest of the world. If this continues, tennis will start closing the gap in viewer numbers with other major sports.
But why are more people following tennis?
Tennis is fun to watch
One reason why more people are tuning in to tennis is because it is great to watch. There is no mass of complex rules to follow and the play is fluid, fast and entertaining. This makes it a fascinating sport to watch and gives people plenty of reasons to tune in.
Greater media attention and coverage
The 2021 US Open event saw ESPN alone dedicate 153 hours of coverage to it. When you consider that other major networks both locally and internationally will take a similar approach to every major tournament on the tennis calendar, you can see the sort of extensive media attention it gets now.
When you also add in the number of headlines tennis makes in print media and the number of online tennis news sites, the picture gets even clearer. There is no doubt that the sport gets a lot more attention now in the media and this has helped it attract more viewers.
Big-name events and celeb players to follow
From Serena Williams to Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, modern tennis has given us some globally famous players to follow. Names like these have transcended the sport in the last few decades and enabled it to reach more people.
In turn, this has seen more of these people take enough of an interest to watch tennis on TV or online.
The iconic, big-name tournaments in the tennis calendar also help and make tennis a sport with top events to attract more viewers. Just as there are some great places to buy tennis kit in the US, there are also plenty of options when it comes to awesome tennis events to watch.
So, is tennis viewership on the rise?
When you look at some of the data around tennis viewership in the last few years, it does seem to be on the rise.
This is a great thing for the sport because it means more people will become involved with it. Tennis, though, does still lag behind a little when compared to viewership for other major sports, such as the NFL or NBA. If tennis can continue to showcase what it offers to more viewers, this gap should close further in the coming years.