The debut of Gout Gout at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was Australia’s most popular television program on Wednesday night, out-performing ratings juggernaut The Block, and drawing more than three million viewers across the unusual free-to-air double act of Channel Nine and SBS coverage.
The Nine broadcast peaked at 2m viewers, securing the title of the evening’s highest rating programme ahead of The Block. Across Nine’s entire athletics broadcast, which finished close to midnight on the east coast, the audience averaged 519,000 viewers per minute.
Australian Athletics’ president, Jane Flemming, used a team welcome at the Australian embassy in Tokyo to take a shot at the footy codes which traditionally dominate September on television.
“Last night we had amazing viewer figures, more [on SBS and Nine combined] than the Friday night AFL finals and more than the Friday night NRL finals,” she said. “Not that I’m competitive, but take that.”
The coverage on SBS, featuring veteran commentator Bruce McAvaney, was also popular, delivering the network its best result for the week. The audience peaked at just over 1m viewers for Gout’s successful heat, and averaged 280,000 viewers.
Australian Athletics chief executive Simon Hollingsworth said the result reflected the potential of the sport.
“It has been sensational to hear today that 3.2 million viewers tuned into the World Athletics Championships last night across both networks to support our athletes,” he said. “It confirms what we have known for a long time and that is that athletics is a sport for everyone.”
Hamish Turner, executive director of Channel Nine/9Now, said there has been “a surge in growth” in recent nights, “and it’ll do even bigger numbers tonight as we get into the semis”.
He said the commitment to athletes by two networks elevates the sport to where it can become a “water cooler conversation”.
“What free-to-air does really well is it gives this raised the sense of importance, and you start getting that kind of flurry of momentum and support,” he said.
Gout Gout will run in the 200m semi-finals on Thursday night in Tokyo. Photograph: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
The unprecedented duplication of world championships coverage has been a win-win for fans, who can choose between local presentations.
Injured Paris gold medal-winning pole vaulter Nina Kennedy has been on Nine’s coverage, while injured sprinter Lachie Kennedy has featured for SBS.
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Ken Shipp, director of sport at SBS, said it was fantastic to see athletics reach such a wide audience, and his network considered it was the “home for die-hard fans” of athletics.
“With our legendary commentary team – Bruce McAvaney, Tamsyn Manou and David Basheer – viewers can trust they’re getting an authentic, world-class experience that truly honours the sport and its athletes,” said.
Although Channel Nine only announced it would be screening the Tokyo meet in June, the network had been considering acquiring rights since mid-2023, having secured the long-term Olympics rights.
“At that point, we knew of Gout and the legacy that was growing, but also more broadly we knew Matt Denny, we knew a lot of those field events that we had really good medal chances for the Paris Olympics, and then we just looked at where those rights were,” Turner said.
“Now, at that point, SBS already had non-exclusive rights for it [Tokyo], so as part of our conversations and our dealings, we pursued those co-exclusive rights.”
While Gout’s meteoric rise has elevated the prominence of the sport, Hollingsworth said there is more to Australia’s athletics appeal than just the teenager.
“We already know we are in a golden era but there is so much more to come as the strength of our squad grows as we get closer to LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032,” he said. “There’s lots to be excited for and we’re looking forward to seeing more Australians experience what the sport has to offer.”
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