Ratings pain as tennis fails to shine for Nine

Sunday’s clash ­between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal delivered a mixed result for first-year broadcaster Nine Network.

Novak Djokovic in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, yesterday. Picture: Getty Images.

Sunday’s heavyweight clash ­between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal delivered a mixed result for first-year broadcaster Nine Network — the highest rating show of the year so far and the lowest for an Australian Open men’s final in more than a decade.

Djokovic’s emphatic three-set win delivered an average combined audience of 2.085 million people and a peak audience of 2.6 million.

The combined average was the lowest since 2007, when an average audience of 1.97 million people tuned in to see Roger Federer defend his title against Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets.

Seven, which surrendered the rights to Nine, claimed an audience of 2.37 million for its last men’s final in 2018, with Federer defending his title again, that time in a five-set marathon against Marin Cilic.

 

The ratings result follows an admission by Nine chief executive Hugh Marks that the tennis would lose the print, radio and television conglomerate $10 million after it spent $55m on the coverage and pulled in $45m of advertising.

Mr Marks earlier told The Australian that Nine could break even next year and turn a profit by 2021.

Nine struck a six-year, $346m deal for the tennis rights, that marked a historic switch of properties by the traditional tennis and cricket broadcasters.

The switch delivered a $35m “swing” for Nine, which had been paying $105m a year for the cricket and pulling in revenue of $70m.

Nine director of sport Tom Malone said the first year had ­exceeded expectations, with the share of audience up “dramatically” and tilting to a younger demographic.

The women’s final was watched by a combined average of 1.57 million people, the best ­figure since 2017.