U.S. Open Sees Increased Viewership Amid Strong American Performances

This year's men's final between Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton drew a rating of 1.7, with 3.23 million viewers on ABC. This represented an increase from the previous year's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which averaged 3 million viewers, and is the largest audience for the event since Rafael Nadal's victory over Novak Djokovic in 2013, which averaged 3.43 million on CBS. Previous men’s finals under ESPN's full telecast since 2015 saw a high of 3.15 million viewers for the match between Djokovic and Roger Federer in 2015.

Nielsen's estimates for out-of-home viewing were first included in 2020 and will be fully accounted for by 2025. This year marks the second year of a new Nielsen methodology combining traditional metrics with additional data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to better capture co-viewing.

Viewership for the men’s final surged 93% compared to the last U.S. Open final featuring an American man, which saw Taylor Fritz lose to Sinner two years ago, averaging 1.67 million viewers. Shelton also competed in the two most-watched matches of the tournament, including his semifinal against fellow American Frances Tiafoe, which averaged a 1.5 rating and pulled in 3.09 million viewers, making it the most-watched men's semifinal on ESPN networks. The overall men's semifinal round averaged 2.2 million viewers.

In the women’s competition, the final between Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka averaged a rating of 1.3 and garnered 2.74 million viewers, a 13% increase from last year's final, where Sabalenka defeated American Amanda Anisimova, which had an audience of 2.4 million. Last Saturday, the women’s final was the most-watched program on ESPN, outperforming college football games and “College Gameday.”

The women’s semifinals also showed strong viewership, averaging a 1.2 rating and 2.24 million viewers, marking a 24% increase from the previous year and the highest average for that round since 2015.

The quarterfinals averaged 1.3 million viewers, a decrease from 1.4 million last year, partly due to a night session on September 9 competing with the NFL Kickoff Game, which dropped to a 0.49 rating with 873,000 viewers. Notably, a late-night match featuring Shelton and Alcaraz averaged 1.3 million viewers, peaking at 1.8 million.

The tournament also recorded the most-watched third round since 2022, highlighted by a match featuring Serena and Venus Williams, which drew a rating of 0.6 and 1.18 million viewers during the primetime window on September 6.