Djokovic and Alcaraz blow Federer out of the water in Wimbledon’s BBC TV figures
BBC figures just lately launched have seen Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz’s 2023 closing soar previous the times when Roger Federer was competing to be topped Wimbledon champion. The Swiss star final made the ultimate in 2019 and has since retired, leaving Djokovic and Alcaraz to take over the mantle.
During Federer’s 2019 closing towards Djokovic, BBC viewing figures peaked at 9.6million, whereas the broadcaster has since confirmed that Sunday’s five-set thriller topped at a whopping 11.3m, engulfing earlier finals involving Federer and was the best since Andy Murray’s 2016 win.
The peak viewers solely considers viewers watching on BBC One and doesn’t bear in mind these watching on iPlayer, the place 4.1m extra noticed the 20-year-old topple Djokovic, a rise of 58 per cent from 2022 – whereas 25.6m watched all through the event on BBC TV.
The over 11m determine can be considerably up from final yr when Djokovic defeated Nick Kyrgios to win his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, as a peak of seven.5m tuned in for the 2022 showpiece.
Fans clearly have been keen to root for a brand new title on the title in Alcaraz, whereas on the ladies’s facet the BBC reported that there was a peak viewers of 4.5m on BBC One for the ladies’s closing between Marketa Vondrousova and Ons Jabeur along with 1.3m on iPlayer. it marked one other massive enhance because the 2022 peak for Elena Rybakina’s win over Jabeur in 2022 was 3.1m.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport mentioned: “It’s great to see that we have been able to meet the viewing demands of audiences, with significant increases in streaming of both the men’s and women’s finals, and a huge peak on BBC One on Sunday. We are continually committed to bringing the very best coverage of Wimbledon to audiences across the UK, so I’m enormously proud that we have been able to do that once again this year.”
Not all of the 11m peak viewers were pleased with the Beeb’s coverage, nevertheless, following an enormous shake-up from earlier years because the retired Sue Barker was changed by Clare Balding because the face of the programme.
Many tennis followers would have assumed to be met with John McEnroe, who has been a outstanding face of the BBC‘s protection of SW19 lately. However, the American solely made a short look as he as a substitute was a commentator and pundit for ESPN.
A Wimbledon closing traditional between Federer and Rafa Nadal in 2008, typically dubbed as the best match within the sport’s historical past, topped 12.8m – however with an growing on-line viewers the 2023 complete determine nonetheless surpasses the long-lasting conflict 15 years in the past.