While a capacity crowd of more than 130,000 people flocked to the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne on Sunday for the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, Australians raced to their screens to catch all the action of the race on 10 and 10 Play.
With a peak national audience of 934,000 viewers, 698,000 national viewers tuned in to see Max Verstappen win a chaotic race which was stopped three times and ended under the safety car, while Australian Oscar Piastri scored his maiden world championship points.
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The race claimed victory in the key advertising demographics, under 50s, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s, as well as total people with a commercial share of 45.5%.
In Melbourne, the race recorded 60.8% of viewers in under 50s, 62.9% in 25 to 54s and 49% in 16 to 39s.
Yesterday’s post-race was the #1 sport in Melbourne.
From Friday to Sunday, Network 10’s coverage on 10 and 10 Bold reached more than 2.95 million national viewers, while 10 Play recorded more than 273,000 live streams across the weekend.
The five city metro audience came in at 447,000, compared with last year’s five city metro audience of 534,000 viewers
Racing commentator and 1996 Formula 1 World Champion, Damon Hill, said: “It was an incredible weekend of racing at Albert Park, and I was thrilled to be involved with Network 10’s broadcast and call all the heart-pumping action of F1.
“Melbourne knows how to put on a show, and it was an amazing atmosphere with huge crowds and incredible buzz combined with fantastic racing, so it was just a perfect weekend to see Max Verstappen take the win.”
Formula 1 reporter Rosanna Tennant said: “I love coming to Australia for F1 and this year was better than ever showing the prowess of the city and the whole production team here to deliver this iconic, global event.
“The crowd were clearly behind Oscar Piastri on his home turf driving for McLaren and it was tremendous to see him drive with such passion and conviction,” she said.
Adam Cush, Director of Sport Production, Paramount Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), parent company of Network 10, said: “The Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix was full throttle this weekend and showed its dominance as one of the premier sporting events in Australia.
“Melbourne pulled out all stops in the 70th anniversary of the first race at Albert Park and didn’t they turn it on for a stand-out weekend of racing.
“Once again we’ve delivered an unrivalled broadcast, with our expert on-air team led by former F1 World Champion Damon Hill calling all the action and our production crew delivering an exemplary telecast, available live and free for all Australians,” said Adam.
Nick Bower, General Manager – Ad Sales, Paramount ANZ said: “The weekend was an outstanding success with the support of our fans, sponsors, and partners Formula One Management and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.
“F1 delivers unrivalled appeal right now that was lapped up by our sponsors who were keen to leverage the momentum and consumer power of Formula 1 fandom.
“Thanks to our sponsors such as 7-Eleven and their fuel partner Mobil, Harvey Norman, Shannons Insurance, PlayStation 5, Salesforce and Visit Victoria for joining us over the action-packed weekend. And major packages with Toyota, Patrón, Ford, Sigma Lenses, Suzuki and Telstra.
“We were also thrilled to introduce the new Live Engagement Breaks this year allowing us to stay with the race through the commercial break, continuing the entertainment for viewers so they didn’t miss a minute of the high-octane action, and delivering brand messages,” said Bower.