The French Open men’s tennis final between Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud on Sunday (June 11) secured public service broadcaster France Télévisions (France TV) a domestic peak audience of 6.5 million.
An average audience of 4.8 million people (a 42% share) tuned in to the France 2 channel to see Djokovic reach a record 23rd grand slam title after beating Ruud in three sets.
The day before (June 10), the women’s final, won by Iga Swiatek against Karolina Muchova in three sets, attracted 2.2 million viewers. That represented a 25.2% audience share and was the best audience for a women’s final since Maria Sharapova won against Simona Halep in 2014.
The broadcaster said that, in total, 40.5 million people watched the tournament via France TV’s coverage.
France TV and streaming heavyweight Amazon Prime Video hold the domestic rights to the French Open in a deal running from 2021 to 2023. However, in March, they renewed their agreements covering the 2024 to 2027 editions.
The renewal sees the coverage split from the 2021-23 deal altered. In that agreement, France TV did not cover matches played on the Simonne-Mathieu court at all, with those shown by Prime Video, whereas the new arrangement splits the rights based on the time of day.
The new deal will see France TV offer viewers live and free-to-air coverage of all daytime matches throughout the tournament, including qualifying fixtures, from all of the venue’s courts.
Prime Video, meanwhile, will exclusively cover the premier match each evening for the tournament’s initial 11 days. Last year, Amazon only held exclusive rights to 10 primetime matches.
The two rightsholders will then come together to co-broadcast all action from the semi-finals onwards (ladies’ and men’s singles, ladies’ and men’s doubles, and mixed doubles) as the tournament draws to a close.
The viewing figures come after the tournament announced a total of 630,000 fans attended Roland Garros in Paris during the three weeks of this year's tournament - a new all-time record for the event.
Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images
