The Australian Open juggernaut roars into 2026 with record crowds, ratings and brand firepower

If you tuned into day one of the Australian Open this week, you could have been forgiven for thinking the finals had arrived early. 

A packed Rod Laver Arena. World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka under lights. Broadcast numbers smashing year-on-year records. On the ground, gates filled early and ground passes were paused within the first hour due to demand. This is no longer just a grand slam. It’s a full-scale sports entertainment machine. And it’s accelerating.

TV data from Nine shows just how hard the Australian Open is hitting in 2026. The day one night session featuring Sabalenka reached 1.9 million Australians nationally, with an average audience of 660,000 - up 24.5% on the same night last year. Streaming growth was even sharper, with BVOD audiences up more than 80% year-on-year. 

SEE MORE: Future-focused and fan-first: Craig Tiley’s bold vision for the Australian Open

The second night session, headlined by Carlos Alcaraz, pulled a national reach of 1.6 million, with average audiences up more than 50% and BVOD surging 133%.

The day one day session was Australia’s most-watched program on Sunday by reach, while 9Now dominated shares across all key demos. 

Off-screen, the scale was just as striking. Tennis Australia confirmed 73,235 people walked through the gates during the day one day session alone - breaking a previous record set in 2019. Officials were forced to pause sales of cheaper ground passes within the first hour as demand overwhelmed capacity. 

This momentum has been built over years, not weeks. A record 1.28 million fans attended the tournament last year, up from 1.11 million the year before. Organisers are expecting another attendance record in 2026.

Like the players, marketers are stepping up their engagement with the Australian Open in 2026 as the tournament increasingly behaves like a platform. Brands don’t “sponsor” the AO anymore - they launch inside it. This year’s opening rounds have doubled as a national brand showcase. 

Uber Eats returned with another blockbuster January campaign, this time starring Jim Courier literally delivering on his name. The work builds on a tradition of tennis-led storytelling that has become synonymous with the tournament - following last year’s Andy Murray campaign - and is supported across broadcast, BVOD, OOH and social. 

Realestate.com.au took a different tack, “listing” the Australian Open itself for sale in a tongue-in-cheek campaign fronted by Pat Rafter. The activation spans Nine broadcast, digital walkthroughs, on-site fan experiences and bespoke content, blurring the line between media, sponsorship and entertainment.

You can even put a call through to Rafter via the realestate.com.au app and hear a pre-recorded “listing” message. It’s classic.

Outside the bigger sponsorship deals are dozens of on-ground activations from the likes of MECCA, ANZ, Kia, Peters Ice Cream, Lipton, CyberCX and DiDi - all designed not just for visibility and participation well beyond centre court. This is the Australian Open as a launchpad, not a logo wall.

None of this is accidental. Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has been explicit about his ambition to turn the Australian Open into one of the world’s leading sports entertainment events - not just a tennis tournament. 

“Our aim was to really make the AO a three-week event,” Tiley wrote on LinkedIn. “Give people lots of reasons to go… and go again. Make it a great place to have a variety of joyful experiences. 

“We think we are getting close to achieving that goal. We already have plans to add and finesse next year.” 

Speaking in Sydney last August, Tiley said it was vital to challenge the event format each and every year. That philosophy, he said, has reshaped how the AO thinks about content, fandom and revenue. 

Tennis Australia now controls production across free-to-air, streaming and digital, allowing it to tailor content formats to different audiences - from traditional broadcast to animated match feeds that have become a breakout hit with younger fans.

“If we don’t become creative as a sport, we will lose our audience. The way fans consume content has been completely disrupted.”

The result is a “festivalised” event that layers tennis with music, food, family experiences, gaming culture and creator-led content, attracting one of the youngest average audiences of any grand slam.

“We pretty much own January,” Tiley said. “And we’re proud to be the biggest annual sporting event in the southern hemisphere.”

Crucially, the Australian Open is now built for scale beyond Melbourne Park. The in-stadium audience represents less than 1% of total reach. The real growth is coming from broadcast, streaming, social and platform-native content, where sponsors can play across weeks, not just match days.

On social media, the numbers speak for themselves. YouTube Shorts have this week racked up millions of views. On Instagram, where the AO has 3.8 million followers, content has taken on a life of its own. The same is true on TikTok, where the tournament has racked up 211 million likes and built a follower base of 2.8 million.

Tiley’s longer-term vision is unapologetically commercial and global, with a 15-year roadmap focused on innovation, self-sufficiency and new revenue models that don’t rely on government funding.

“The challenge in five years will be access to funds,” he said. “We have to be self-sufficient.”

That mindset is already reshaping how brands engage with the AO - as a cultural moment, a content engine and a proving ground for new ideas.

Judging by day one alone, the Australian Open isn’t just starting strong in 2026. It’s entering the year as one of the most powerful live entertainment platforms in the country - and it’s still warming up.