Demand for Sky Racing’s unrivalled coverage of Australian and international racing has seen audiences soar over autumn across all channels.
With racing continuing throughout the COVID-19 restrictions, Sky Racing has worked hard to continue to innovate and bring the best racing action to viewers – via pay TV, the TAB app and Sky Racing Active – amid significant logistical challenges.
Ratings and visitor data for the eight main Saturdays of racing from 29 February have shown strong growth in demand for Sky Racing’s coverage via:
Pay TV (via Foxtel)
- Sky Racing’s average audiences rose by 38% over this eight-week period year on year reaching almost 300,000 viewers on each of the two days of the Championships – Sydney’s premier autumn racing days
- The growth came on top of strong ratings for the previous year as a result of Winx having her final Sydney campaign
- Sky Raceday (on the Sky 1 channel) has been the most popular program on the entire Foxtel platform for the past four Saturdays outrating shows such as Midsomer Murders and Selling Houses Australia by approximately 30%
Digitally via the TAB app
- Punters viewed Sky Racing coverage on the TAB app more than 1 million times on the first day of The Championships
- Digital sessions (defined as each occasion on which a customer accesses vision) on the TAB app were up by an average of 36% per cent year on year during this period
- On the two days of the Championships digital sessions on the app rose by 62% and 81% respectively
Via Sky Racing Active – our bespoke and on demand racing app
- Viewers have strongly embraced Sky Racing Active, which has logged more than 100,000 downloads and allows users to create playlists and access racing in the way they want to
- More than 40,000 viewers accessed the app during the five key Saturdays of the Sydney autumn carnival
- Sky Racing Active is reaching high numbers of younger (18-35) racing fans and helping racing access this demographic in new ways with options to follow individual horses and dogs, trainers, jockeys and drivers and receive notifications when they are due to run
- With venues closed under COVID-19 restrictions, we have added the ability to cast the Sky Racing Active vision to their smart TV as well as additional content from Sky Sports Radio and Radio TAB
- Sky Racing Active is helping our viewers and all racing codes by offering additional lead-in time for races that can’t be accommodated on Sky 1 or Sky 2 due to scheduling
Tabcorp Executive General Manager Media & International Darren Pearce said:
“We are pleased more viewers are watching Sky Racing’s unrivalled racing coverage in the ways that suit them best – whether that is digitally via TAB or Sky Racing Active, or through Foxtel.
“These are unprecedented times and we are proud of Sky Racing’s role in continuing to keep racing fans informed with the best racing vision, talent and tips, as well as reaching new audiences to help racing grow.
“Our people have led the way during this period to bring racing vision to our customers through innovation in both their ways of working and in the technological delivery of the coverage. That’s meant seamlessly pulling together racing broadcasts from throughout the country with anchors and talent all working remotely. It’s meant our technology teams adding new functionality to our apps to give people more of what they want.
“We are also proud to support all racing codes through this period by ensuring the best mix of vision is available and we want to also acknowledge the phenomenal effort that the racing industry and all participants have put in to ensure the sport has remained operational throughout this period.”