The Women’s Tennis Association has reported a 22.5 per cent increase in viewership for the dedicated broadcast of its leading tournaments in 2014.
The end-of-season report compiled by sports marketing research firm SMG Insight details the performance of the WTA’s elite events, which comprise the 21 Premier events plus the season-ending WTA Finals.
The most-watched tournament of the year was Singapore’s WTA Finals, attracting 26.9 million viewers across seven days of tennis from October 19-26.
The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, which ran from March 3-16, provided the season's most-watched day of broadcast for women’s tennis in 2014. A total of 4.6 million fans accessed the semi-finals action from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, USA.
The event also generated the largest growth in audience, almost doubling from 11.76 million viewers in 2013 to 22.98 million in 2014.
The Miami Open, which took place from March 25 to April 5, delivered the largest online digital audience of the year, with nine per cent of the season's total online digital viewers watching coverage of the tournament.
Dedicated broadcast includes all live, delayed and highlights programming. Measurement included dedicated television and digital coverage for the 22 tournaments.