Ten’s broadcast of the Melbourne Cup draws 1.472 million viewers nationally
The number of Australians tuning into the Melbourne Cup increased in 2023 as viewers saw jockey Mark Zahra claim his second Cup in a row.
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The interest in the Melbourne Cup grew this year and resulted in the national average television audience increasing by nine per cent to 1.472 million viewers.
Official ratings from OzTAM showed Network Ten’s live broadcast of the nation’s biggest horse race attracted a national average audience that was 121,000 viewers higher than last year when the Cup drew 1.351 million viewers.
Jockey Mark Zahra celebrated his second Melbourne Cup victory in a row, on Tuesday riding Without a Fight to victory in front of a crowd of nearly 85,000 fans in what turned out to be a hot spring day in the Victorian capital.
In 2022 he rode Gold Trip to Cup victory in the Group 1 race at Flemington Racecourse.
The ratings released on Wednesday showed the TV audience for the race that stops the nation included 1.1 million viewers across the five major cities including 562,000 viewers in Melbourne, 243,000 Sydney viewers, 164,000 Brisbane viewers, 82,000 Perth viewers and 59,000 Adelaide viewers.
The number of people tuning into Ten’s live stream on 10play was 206,000 viewers and was up by 36 per cent compared to last year.
In 2022 152,000 viewers streamed the Melbourne Cup live.
It was the second lowest national TV audience for Ten during the five years it has held the TV rights to the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Ten’s broadcasting team for the Cup was led by Eddie McGuire and Melbourne Cup winning jockeys Michelle Payne and Glen Boss, alongside others including racing broadcaster Michael Felgate and 10 News First reporter Caty Price.
Ten’s five-year broadcasting rights for the Melbourne Cup Carnival will come to an end this year and it is likely Nine Entertainment will take over as the new broadcaster in a deal that could extend to six years.
Seven previously held the rights to the popular racing carnival since 2002.
Ten came under intense criticism by horse racing fans in regional areas across the country on the weekend after the station’s affiliate, Southern Cross Austereo, cut to an ad break before the main race on Derby Day had finished.
Ten said SCA use provider NPC Media to help facilitate its broadcasts and the issue was their fault.
An NPC Media spokesman said it had, “made the unfortunate error of switching to an ad break” on Saturday afternoon when the main race result was still unfolding.
Ten will also air coverage of Oaks Day on Thursday and Stakes Day on Saturday which ends this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival.
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Originally published as Ten’s broadcast of the Melbourne Cup draws 1.472 million viewers nationally
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