Mboko's Victory Drives Record Viewership for Sportsnet After Tournament Criticism

Sportsnet experienced a surge in viewership for Victoria Mboko's victory over Naomi Osaka in the National Bank Open championship last Thursday. The thrilling match concluded the tournament on a positive note, especially after facing criticism regarding its coverage during the initial week of the competition.

The network reported that the women's final drew an average audience of 638,000 viewers, according to Numeris. This figure established the broadcast as Sportsnet's most-watched tennis program to date.

The previous record for Sportsnet's tennis coverage was set during the 2019 final of the same tournament, then known as the Rogers Cup. That match, where Bianca Andreescu won the championship after Serena Williams' early retirement, attracted an average of 594,000 viewers.

This year's impressive ratings provided a boost for Sportsnet, which had faced criticism for its programming choices. Despite the tournament's expansion to twelve days, Sportsnet utilized generic world feed coverage for the men's matches in Toronto and the women's matches in Montreal for the first six days, rather than producing its own broadcasts.

During those initial broadcasts, analysts and commentators often appeared to lack familiarity with Canadian players and local interests. Following Eugenie Bouchard's first match victory, a courtside reporter conducted an interview solely in French, preventing English-speaking viewers from hearing from her. Furthermore, on the night Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated, Sportsnet aired a match featuring two European players instead. By the time Sportsnet began its own original broadcasts, Mboko was the only remaining Canadian player in the tournament.

Based on historical trends, Mboko could potentially attract even greater viewership if she continues her winning streak. In 2019, less than a month after winning the Rogers Cup, Andreescu's US Open championship victory over Williams drew an average audience of 3.4 million viewers on TSN and RDS, becoming the most-watched tennis broadcast on those networks.