Record TV audience for 2025 Australian Grand Prix

SYDNEY–More than 3.6 million local viewers tuned into the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, setting streaming records and making it the most-watched race since 2016.

Paramount ANZ, owners of Network 10, said the television audience for the four-day event was up 15 per cent year-on-year, with streaming viewers increasing by 97 per cent.

The Sunday grand prix brought 1.72 million viewers for Network 10, up 31 per cent on the 2024 race and the highest viewership since 2016.

Free streaming platform 10Play set a new record with the biggest audience ever for the race, up 87 per cent since 2024.

"“We have a long and proud 23-year history of broadcasting the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix on Network 10, but this year was a highlight as the world watched on for the opening race of the season," said Frank Smith, executive producer sports at Network 10.

Former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner returned to the local coverage for 2025. "It is always great to come back to Network 10," said figure made famous by his role in the Drive to Survive series.

"I’ve done my second year now and the team is just fantastic – it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like being with friends and doing a job secondly."

The figures reported by Network 10 are "reach," a new metric under the Australian TV ratings measurement system which counts anyone who tuned in for part of the coverage.

Foxtel, which does not report audience numbers, said "Sunday’s Formula 1 race achieved the highest race audience ever across Foxtel Group platforms, Kayo Sports, Foxtel, Foxtel Go and Foxtel Now."

Streaming app Kayo Sports said they recorded their biggest weekend ever with more than 879 million minutes streamed across sports including AFL, NRL, the WSL Championship Tour, the Players Championship golf, and the Australian Grand Prix.

In the United States, ESPN reported a record audience after drawing an average of 1.1 million viewers, beating the previous high set in 2019. The comparable average figure for Network 10 this year was just over 1 million viewers.

With the race beginning at midnight on the east coast, the peak audience of 1.3 million for ESPN was more than double that of last year's event.

"While the average is slightly down on the first race of 2024 – Bahrain attracted 1.12 million on a Saturday morning last year, and 1.32 million on a Sunday morning in 2023 – the figures still represent an encouraging start to the 2025 season for ESPN given the timezone the Australian race is held in" noted RACER.