Last Sunday’s Wimbledon final between World number 1 Novak Djokovic and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini attracted a television audience of over 4 million in Italy, as the nation tuned in to watch their countryman. This was the first time an Italian reached the final of Wimbledon.
Although Berrettini lost the final, TV broadcaster Sky Italia recorded unprecedented viewing figures for the showpiece event. In a game where Novak Djokovic created history by winning his 20th Grand Slam, equaling Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the Italians showered so much love and support to Berretiini throughout.
TV8, Sky’s free-to-air digital terrestrial channel, captivated an average viewership of 3.2 million for the match. The market share eclipsed to a whopping 23.1 per cent in the process. Towards the end of the first set in the final, which Berrettini won, the channel’s audience peaked at 4.1 million. Such a meteoric rise in viewership even caught the broadcasters by surprise, considering the nation was already preparing for the UEFA EURO 2020 final against England scheduled to take place just a few hours later.
The final was broadcast live on two of Sky’s channels, Sky Sport Uno and Sky Sport Tennis. Sky’s pay-television audience for the match was 1.52 million, the broadcaster’s highest-ever figure for a tennis match. In addition, there were thousands of people who streamed the final in Italy. The figures for which have not been published yet.
Previously, Sky Italia’s record audience for the men’s Wimbledon final had been an average of 760,000 subscribers for the 2019 final between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Switzerland’s Roger Federer, a game which went right down to the wire. Djokovic won the final in five sets, with the decider set going up to 13-12.
Later in the evening, Sky attracted an audience of 2.4 million subscribers for its live coverage of Italy against England in the UEFA Euro 2020 final. The match was also watched by an average of 18.2 million viewers (a 73.7-per-cent share) on Rai, the Italian public broadcaster. This time the Italians were on the winning side, as they clinched the final on penalties (3-2) after the game ended 1-1 in extra time.