BBC sees Wimbledon ratings drop

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) saw a dramatic fall in the number of people tuning in to watch this summer’s Wimbledon tennis championships, it has been revealed.

While this year saw a rain-free Championships, an average of just 5.1 million viewers tuned in between 1330 and 1820 on Sunday to watch the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Thomas Berdych. This figure is significantly down on the 2009 final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, which attracted an average audience of 7.1 million, while the 2008 final between Federer and Nadal pulled in an average of 7.4 million viewers.

The women’s final also saw a rating slide, with an average audience of 2.2 million tuning in to see Serena Williams beat Vera Zvonareva. The 2008 women’s final, in comparison, attracted ana verage audience of 3.9 million, peaking at 4.9 million.

The BBC fared better on the football front, with Sunday’s FIFA World Cup quarter-final match between Argentina and Germany pulling in up to 7.0 million viewers, which was a 51.2 per cent market share.