BTS Wimbledon: ESPN gears up for record breaking year

IBC

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ESPN is the biggest international broadcaster for Wimbledon for which it is paying around $95m annually for exclusive rights in the U.S until 2035 (from 2024).  It’s a vital partner to the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) which own the Championship and which manages host broadcast internally under Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS).

“Wimbledon is one of the tentpole events on ESPN each year and is a cornerstone of our tennis portfolio,” John Suchenski, ESPN Senior Director, Programming & Acquisitions tells IBC365. “It represents excellence, tradition, and elite competition, values that align perfectly with our brand and the first-class coverage we strive to provide to fans in the U.S.”

To augment WBS’ coverage ESPN has a huge outside broadcast operation in SW19.

Jarrett Baker, ESPN’s Sr Manager, Remote Operations explains: “We do most of the production work live in Wimbledon with hundreds of pieces of equipment that were installed over the week before the main draw begins. We have about 300 people on site working in two full control rooms, a REMI PCR for international use, a large graphics room with five viz engines, replay space for 25 operators, and nine offices that overlook Court 18.”

ESPN is deploying more than 30 unilateral cameras. This includes four coverage cameras on both Centre Court and No. 1 Court along with two cabled handhelds and two RF handhelds roaming the grounds.

Baker says, “It’s a privilege to show off the immaculate grounds and world-class competition with so many bespoke positions.”

Its production also uses about 100 ISO feeds from WBS and there are nearly 500 inputs to the onsite router.

Highlights and magazine style programming are produced both on-site and in the U.S. Linda Schulz, Vice President, Production ESPN, explains, “We have production teams work in shifts to help with time change and the lengthy broadcast windows. The U.S. team focuses on highlights that have been requested by announcers and producers at the end of days’ play to be turned around for coverage in the AM in the UK. The U.S. team also handles our creative and long form creative content. Our team in the UK handles our quick turn analysis packages.”

This year ESPN added an announce (commentator) position at No. 3 Court and an upgraded commentator booth at Court 2.

“At this point we have Commentator booths in five different locations, allowing for a more in-depth presentation as we go from match to match,” Schulz says. “A tremendously exciting new coverage opportunity is additional ‘whisper’ positions, or more commonly known as courtside analysis positions. We now will frequently have reporters or analysts in the stands at Courts 1, 2, 3 and even Centre Court. This access is completely new this year.”

It also made scenic adjustments in Studio 3 to improve the look of virtual graphics. Additionally, ESPN has expanded its virtual graphics package. Last year it was primarily kept to in studio use and one live, static camera, with a handful of templates for content.

“This year we will have much more expansive content and storytelling presentations, as well as alternate camera options,” Schulz says.

Last year’s ratings for the women’s and men’s finals were ESPN’s best in six years, helped by the Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz battle to which 4 million people tuned in. The whole two weeks of Championship 2025 was ranked the fourth-best Wimbledon broadcast in ESPN’s history averaging 721,000 total viewers—6% higher than 2024—across more than 250 hours of coverage watched on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.

The out-of-retirement story of 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and her sister Venus are a key editorial focus for the US broadcaster. ESPN plans to document both player journey’s from start to finish and wrap that coverage with virtual graphics, features and reports throughout all ESPN platforms.

“Beyond that, we love the opportunity of stories on both sides,” Schultz says. “Each of the last nine Wimbledon’s have featured a different ladies’ champion, the longest streak in tournament history. And on the Gentlemen’s side, Novak Djokovic is seeking his 25th all-time major singles title, which would break the tie with Margaret Court for most Gentlemen’s or Ladies’. But he has to get through the defending Champions Jannik Sinner and without Carlos Alcaraz, the door is cracked open for a spoiler to both Djokovic and Sinner.”

SIGNALS: A New Way to Experience Wimbledon

For decades, watching Wimbledon has meant following the TV broadcast but this format increasingly feels out of place in a world where fans demand interaction and new technology enables them to experience it.

SIGNALS is the BBC’s attempt to do something about that. It’s a new interactive layer built by BBC R&D and available during Centre Court matches at this Championships.

“Wimbledon has always been a shared national moment, watched and debated in real time but audience expectations have changed,” explains Laura Harrison, Principal product manager at BBC R&D. “People want to interact and feel part of what’s happening on court,”

Running as an internet‑delivered layer alongside the live broadcast, rather than as a second screen, SIGNALS blends real‑time participation with live match data. Among other things it enables viewers to answer quizzes at key moments then instantly seeing how others across the UK respond.

“You’re not just watching a match unfold, you’re seeing the collective read of it evolve in real time,” she says.

The official live ball‑tracking data is also being used to surface match insights displayed through on‑screen overlays. For example, a continuously updating ‘dominance graph’ shows who is in control and how momentum shifts. A ‘winners view’ highlights which shots are working and ‘Serve Performance’ cards and animated serve‑speed overlays bring clarity to these shots.

“Tennis produces a huge amount of data, but much of it has traditionally been out of reach during live play,” she adds. For fans, SIGNALS turns that data into “clear stories that make matches easier to follow and more engaging.”

This also  creates a real-time feedback loop, which BBC R&D say helps broadcasters understand audience behaviour in real time and therefore to shape editorial decisions as matches unfold.

BBC R&D thinking also extends into current affairs, reality and entertainment shows. Ideas include scoring a routine on Strictly at the exact moment the judges lift their paddles; choosing which route contestants should take in Race Across the World or responding live to discussion points on Question Time creating a live snapshot of the national mood.

Wimbledon is the first public outing for the prototype. BBC R&D suggest it’s a glimpse of how television might reclaim attention “not by competing with everything else in the room, but by bringing the interactions back to the TV screen itself.”