The recent Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup Finals enjoyed an extraordinary TV coverage worldwide reaching over 175 countries in all five continents.
In their “most important sport event of the year” TVE, the host broadcaster of the Davis Cup Final Spain v USA (Seville 3-5 December), dedicated over 45 hours with different programmes to cover the event and registered impressive figures throughout the weekend, beating every other sports competitions.
While over 3m viewers followed Friday’s first two singles matches on the second channel La 2, the Bryan Brothers’ victory on Saturday in the doubles match was followed by more than 3m viewers with market shares of 26.7 per cent on the first channel ,La Primera. The deciding fourth rubber on Sunday Moyá vs Roddick attracted over 3.1m viewers again to La Primera, with an outstanding 43.8 per cent market share. This compares with a 36.9 per cent share registered in the historic fourth match of the Davis Cup Final in the year 2000, when Spain won its first Final.
In the always-competitive U.S. market ESPN registered good figures despite the time difference and its delayed coverage of the Final. Among the 25 international broadcasters UK’s BskyB and Russian’s NTV Plus dedicated over 20 hours each while Australia, the 2003 champion, could watch over 30 hours thanks to FOX Sports.
Meanwhile, the Fed Cup Semi-Finals and Final played in Moscow from 24-28 November also registered a great worldwide coverage.
In Russia NTV Plus was the host broadcaster with extensive live and delayed coverage throughout the week while RTR did also daily highlights of the Russian team on its way to a first historic win.
From the 17 international broadcasters Japan’s J Sports and UK’s BSkyB dedicated over 30 hours each between live and delayed transmissions as also did The Tennis Channel from the US with an extraordinary 68 hours despite non US team participation. Also remarkable is the 9 per cent market share registered by TVE in Spain during the thrilling Russia v France Final.
After the two successful 2004 team competitions Finals, the ITF heads now to Australia for the year-opening Hopman Cup (Perth 1-8 January 2005), the Official ITF mixed-team competition, which will see the alikes of Anastasia Myskina, Marat Safin, Lindsay Davenport, Guillermo Coria and Daniela Hantuchova among others playing again for their countries.
Alfonso Medina
Television Department
International Tennis Federation
Bank Lane Roehampton / London / SW15 5XZ / UK
Tel: +44 208 392 4785
Mob: +44 7799 034 618
Fax: +44 208 392 4746
email: mailtalfonso.medina@itftennis.com