Live coverage of Sunday’s Australian Open tennis men’s final generated pan-European broadcaster Eurosport’s largest-ever audience for a tennis match.
Eurosport said the match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal attracted an average of 4.2 million viewers and a peak audience of 7.9 million for the conclusion of the five-set contest.
The broadcaster said that the match reached a total audience of almost 20 million viewers across Europe, citing figures sourced from audience measurement companies TNS Gallup, AGF, SKO, AGB NMR, Armadata, Kantar Media, MMS and Barb.
Djokovic won the match, with the contest finishing at 1.35am local time in Melbourne on Sunday, January 29.
Eurosport’s previous record was generated by the 2009 Australian Open final, which Nadal won in five sets against Roger Federer. The 2009 match attracted a total audience of 17 million viewers and an average audience of 3.1 million.
The 2012 tournament was also the most-viewed Australian Open ever on Eurosport, with an overall reach of 56.4 million viewers – higher than the previous best of 52 million in 2009.
Interest in the Australian Open also helped to boost Eurosport’s online figures to record levels in January. The broadcaster’s website attracted an average of 3.2 million daily visitors across the month, about 100,000 more than the previous record that was set in June 2010, during the Fifa World Cup in South Africa.