NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Serena Williams' long goodbye to the U.S. Open proved a boon to ESPN.
Facing down the possibility of a first-round knockout, Williams instead gave the sports network four nights of prime-time programming last week, with her eventual reaching the largest audience of any tennis match in ESPN's 43-year history.
ESPN happily adjusted on the fly, asking Open officials to move Williams' doubles match with her sister Venus to Thursday evening, and moving a college football game off its main network on Friday to make room for the match with Tomljanovic.
That Friday match reached 4.8 million viewers, peaking at 6.9 million, the Nielsen company said. It beat the previous record-holder, the 3.9 million who watched the 2012 Wimbledon men's final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
鈥淲e knew it was going to be a huge story,鈥� said John Suchenski, ESPN's programming director, on Wednesday. 鈥淚'm not sure we knew how much it was going to play out, audience-wise. Obviously, we're thrilled by the numbers.鈥�
last Monday, along with a post-match ceremony, was seen by 2.7 million people 鈥� or 289% above comparable first round coverage in 2021, Nielsen said. Wednesday's reached 2.3 million. Thursday's sister act, the first time ESPN has shown a doubles match in prime time, averaged 2.2 million.
Suchenski said he hoped for a 鈥渉alo effect鈥� that would boost the Open ratings for a Williams-less second week, but ESPN is cognizant of reality.
鈥淭he first week was the Serena Open,鈥� tennis analyst John McEnroe said during Sunday's coverage. 鈥淣ow it's the U.S. Open.鈥�
Among broadcast networks last week, ABC led with a prime time average of 4.2 million viewers. NBC had 2.63 million, CBS had 2.56 million, Fox had 1.6 million, Univision had 1.1 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 860,000.
ESPN led all the cable networks with an average of 2.58 million, Fox News had 2.1 million, MSNBC had 1.36 million, HGTV had 870,000 and USA had 842,000.
The reached an estimated 1.8 million U.S. households last weekend, according to Samba TV. That's Amazon Prime's biggest debut of the year, the research company said.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� won the evening news ratings race with 7.2 million viewers last week, Nielsen said. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.1 million.
For the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 4, the 20 most-watched programs in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. College Football: Notre Dame at Ohio State, ABC, 10.53 million.
2. College Football: Florida St. at LSU, ABC, 7.55 million.
3. 鈥淎merica's Got Talent鈥� (Tuesday), NBC, 6.36 million.
4. 鈥淎merica's Got Talent鈥� (Wednesday), NBC, 5.48 million.
5. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 5.12 million.
6. U.S. Open Tennis (Friday), ESPN, 4.56 million.
7. 鈥淧assword,鈥� NBC, 3.92 million.
8. 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� (Wednesday), CBS, 3.8 million.
9. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 3.7 million.
10. 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� (Thursday), CBS, 3.68 million.
11. College Football: Penn State at Purdue, Fox, 3.51 million.
12. 鈥淭ucker Carlson Tonight鈥� (Monday), Fox News, 3.39 million.
13. 鈥淏achelorette: Men Tell All,鈥� ABC, 3.32 million.
14. 鈥淧ress Your Luck,鈥� ABC, 3.294 million.
15. 鈥淭ucker Carlson Tonight鈥� (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.288 million.
16. 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� (Sunday), CBS, 3.27 million.
17. 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� CBS, 3.208 million.
18. 鈥淭he Neighborhood,鈥� CBS, 3.206 million.
19. College Football: West Virginia at Pittsburgh, ESPN, 3.15 million.
20. 鈥淎merican Ninja Warrior,鈥� NBC, 3.14 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
