Tennis Channel Has Richest Viewers, 2 New Studies Say

Tennis Channel has the most affluent audience of all ad-supported TV networks, according to two new studies.

Rentrak TV Essentials for 2014 puts Tennis Channel on top among homes with incomes of $150,000 or more. And the Ipsos Affluent survey put tennis channel at No. 1 with a mean household income of $259,700, as well as in percentage of viewers with household incomes of $500,000 and up.

In the Rentrak data five of the top 10 most affluent networks—including Golf Channel—are owned by cable giant Comcast, which keeps the Tennis Channel on a sports tier, limiting its distribution after an FCC volley. But it seems Tennis fans can afford tiers—or have switched to satellite or telco.

“Tennis Channel is able to provide our media partners with a direct avenue to the most sought-after demographics in television,” says Allison Bodenmann, VP, head of advertising sales, Tennis Channel. “This is despite being an independent network limited in distribution compared to most of our vertically integrated competitors.”

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.