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- Channel 4 agreed deal with Amazon Prime Video hours before the final
- US Open women’s final audience peaked at 9.2m
- Final was the most watched tennis match ever on Amazon Prime Video
UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 saw its broadcast of the US Open women’s final peak at 9.2 million viewers, as Emma Raducanu became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam tennis title in 44 years.
Channel 4 struck a late deal to simulcast Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of the final on 11th September, allowing British audiences to watch Raducanu’s 6-4, 6-3 win over the Canadian Leylah Fernandez on free-to-air (FTA) television.
The final scored an average audience of 7.4 million viewers on Channel 4, with the audience peak eclipsing the previous 2021 high for a FTA tennis match of 7.9 million, which was set during the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage earlier in the summer.
The US Open women’s final was viewed by 40 per cent of all UK TV viewers on 11th September and by 48 per cent of all 16 to 34 year olds watching at that time.
Channel 4 also revealed that around 12.6 million viewers watched the match for at least three minutes.
Raducanu’s historic victory was also the most watched tennis match on Amazon Prime Video since the streaming platform acquired the US Open broadcast rights in 2018.
“We’re so delighted that Channel 4, in partnership with Prime Video, could enable more than nine million people to enjoy one of the most thrilling and historic nights of British sport in a generation”, said Ian Katz, Channel 4’s chief content officer.
“Moments like this are what Channel 4 was made for – it’s a perfect example of the kind of nimble, uncommercial, but profoundly valuable public service broadcasting that a purpose-driven Channel 4 can deliver.”
