The Australian Open was a living nightmare for Channel 9 with damned numbers highlighting just how bleak things really are.
Nine set out $500m to extend the Australian Open deal through 2030, but viewership plummeted in 2023.
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The shots at the Australian Open came hard and fast before he sent the first serve over the net.
Australian Golden Girl Ash Barty stopped the racket shortly after her Grand Slam victory. That blow alone would have made the network executives reel.
But then came the loss of world number one Carlos Alcaraz, the super talented 19-year-old who took the world by storm last year.
Arguably the biggest blow to the World Open came on opening day when Nick Kyrgios announced his withdrawal.
The 27-year-old is the biggest box office draw card on the face of planet tennis and his departure spelled disaster for the network and the tournament.
distance Horrific opening night that saw characters fall behind Channel 7’s Home And AwayThings did not improve on the grid throughout the tournament.
During the Saturday night women’s singles final and men’s doubles final, ratings peaked at 1.437 million viewers.
While those numbers are good, they don’t even come close to last year’s women’s singles final and men’s doubles final which peaked at 4.261 million viewers.
Records fell during the 2022 edition of the Australian Open, with Nine reaching a national audience of 12.5 million viewers across two channels.
One year later, the numbers are three to four million down from what happened during last year’s amazing tournament.
With the hits piling up, the numbers won’t repeat last year’s record-breaking tournament, but a sharp drop would be a major concern after a $500 million gamble.
media analyst Steve Allen told Herald Sun The rating bomb will cause sleepless nights for nine CEOs.
“There are a lot of world-ranked players with star power who don’t show here, so it’s always been lower ratings. However, the ratings are a bit lower than I would have expected. It’s been down significantly, 30 or 40 percent,” he said.
One of the factors contributing to the dramatic decline in Nine’s propulsion could relate to Novak Djokovic’s chip to mid-table.
Although Djokovic is the greatest player of all time, when it comes to ratings he doesn’t deliver them as well as he does on the court.
“We know Djokovic isn’t really a rating card in my mind, so the fact that he’s been a part of it this year, I think doesn’t make any difference,” said TV expert Colin Vickery. Herald Sun.
“The tennis world is lacking TV ratings cards right now, it’s in a transitional phase. The reliable draw cards like Ash Partey, (Roger) Federer, they’re gone and there are very few coming at the moment.”
Those notes from Vickery echoed A strong warning, Kyrgios declared during his participation in last year’s Australian Open doubles tournament.
The 27-year-old was asked where he would like to see the sport in five to 10 years’ time, and he painted a bleak picture of what’s to come.
“I just think tennis has done a really bad job of accepting personalities in the past,” he said.
“I think they’ve only marketed three players over the last decade and now it’s kind of like that, so they’ve tried to push some players into the next generation… Tennis has really struggled to embrace different personalities, like when people approach it differently.
Like something about Thanasi when I watch him play singles it sticks to me on TV, whether he’s losing or winning, that’s just the way he goes.
“I think tennis needs to embrace that more.”
Channel 9 should have listened to the Canberra-born star’s advice.