Australian Open 2025 delivers record $565 million in economic benefits to Victoria 

According to a new IER report, the Australian Open 2025 injected $565.8 million into Victoria’s economy, smashing attendance records having attracted 1.9 billion global fans and drawing 2.3 billion social impressions.

Tennis Australia commissioned IER Pty Ltd to conduct the economic impact assessment for the Australian Open 2025. This study follows on from the research that had previously been conducted by Nielsen Sports.

Over the past 10 years the Australian Open has become more than just a tennis tournament having generated more than $3.46 billion for Victoria.

Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley notes “The Australian Open remains a major economic driver for Victoria, attracting hundreds of thousands of fans from across Australia and around the world.

“We’re proud to see the tournament growing not just in attendance and global reach, but in the direct impact it has on local jobs and businesses.”

“This is more than just a tennis tournament – it’s a world-class event that drives tourism, boosts hospitality, and showcases Melbourne as a premier destination.”

The number of full-time jobs generated by the Australian Open increased 15.78% to 2722, the highest on record. The Grand Slam resulted in an extra 775 jobs in the accommodation, hotels and café sector, 182 jobs in trade services, 103 jobs in road transport and another 85 jobs in construction.

Visitors to AO25 booked 442,887 nights in Victorian hotels, with the average daily spend per visitor $243.92.

62.7% of all Australian Open attendees were locals from Melbourne, 19% from interstate, 10.3 per cent intrastate and 8 per cent from overseas.

The Australian Open 2025 had a global cumulative reach of 1.9 billion, with 758 million hours viewed globally across a cross-platform audience.

The Summer of Tennis 2025 including the Australian Open generated a total expenditure stimulus in excess of $623 million which represents all money spent in each region attributable to the events across the country, including attendee spend and the event organiser spend to host the events.  

Key Economic Benefits 

• The Australian Open total expenditure stimulus in 2025 is $565.8 million – this uplift is generated by Australian Open activity nationally, plus event organisers and attendee spend at the AO

• The Australian Open generated $424.4 million for the Melbourne economy

• Australian Open 2025 generated more than $414.3 million for the Victorian economy

The Australian Open has generated more than $3.46 billion for Victoria over the past 10 years.

Jobs

• The number of full-time equivalent jobs generated increased 15.78% to 2722 – the highest figure on record

• Australian Open 2025 resulted in 775 jobs in the accommodation, hotels and café sector, 182 jobs in trade services, 103 in road transport and 85 jobs in construction services.

Tourism facts 

• 442,887 bed nights were booked in Victorian hotels

• The 2025 average daily spend per visitor was $243.92

• 62.7% of all Australian Open attendees were from Melbourne, 19% from interstate, 10.3% from intrastate and 8% from overseas

• Social activities were the most popular leisure activities with 72% of visitors participating. A further 40% took part in arts and culture activities, 38% enjoyed outdoor and nature activities, and 29% took an organised tour or visited an attraction.

Attendance

• Australian Open 2025 smashed previous attendance records with 1,218,831 fans attending across the three-week event including 116,528 people in AO Opening Week

• More than 1.5 million people attended events across the AO and Australian Summer of Tennis

• More than 7.5 million people have attended the Australian Open over the last 10 years

• Friday 17th January was the highest attended day/night in the history of the Australian Open, with 97,123 fans through the gates

• Records were broken for nine individual sessions and 11 day/night totals.

Key perception benefits

• 97.7% of Victorian attendees surveyed believe that is important for Victoria to host the AO each year

• 74.7% of visitors who attended the Australian Open 2025 agree that the AO is a major highlight in the sporting calendar and 72.8% believe that it puts the attention of the world onto Australia during the event

• 68% of attendees would recommend visiting Victoria, indicating a positive perception of the region

• More than half of visitors to the Australian Open from interstate reported that their perception of Victoria changed for the better

• According to 65% of attendees, the attributes most associated with the Australian Open are ‘welcoming’ and ‘iconic’.

Global viewership (figures based on 2025 Futures Report)

• Australian Open 2025 reached a cumulative global audience of 1.91 billion people

• A record 124,589 global broadcast coverage hours were produced for AO25

• There were more than 758 million hours viewed globally of the Australian Open 2025 (cross-platform audience)

• The top five countries by total hours viewed were Australia, China, USA, Japan and Italy

• The two countries represented in the men’s singles final both had strong growth in AO hours viewed with Germany up 15% vs the four-year average and Italy up 42% vs the four-year average

• In Italy, an average audience of 3.5 million watched Jannik Sinner defend his AO men’s singles title, with the men’s final enjoying a 33% audience share across Eurosport and FTA channel Nove

• In Germany, the average audience for the men’s final was 1.81 million, across Eurosport and FTA Channel RTL

• There was a 34% year on year increase in Japanese hours viewed, driven by the return of Kei Nishikori and Naomi Osaka to the AO.

Domestic broadcast highlights (based on OzTAM ratings)

• 13.07 million people were reached across the 9Network’s coverage of Australian Open 2025, up 2% year-on-year

• 150 million domestic hours viewed (cross-platform), up 8% year-on-year

• Audiences on streaming platforms continue to grow, with 23.3% of all domestic hours viewed coming through 9Now and Stan – up 5.7 percentage points from AO24

• The 9Network was the number one BVOD commercial free-to-air network by share of voice on all 15 days of AO25

• Among 16-39 year-olds, 9Now’s BVOD commercial free-to-air audience share averaged over 62% across AO25

• The two most watched matches of AO25 on total TV were the men’s singles final (2 million average audience) and the women’s singles final (1.6 million average)

• Among matches featuring Australian players, the most watched were Alex de Minaur’s quarterfinal vs Jannik Sinner (1.3 million) and his fourth round match vs Alex Michelsen (1.2 million).

 Media, Content and Digital

• There were 18.9 million total AO social followers – an increase of 15% on 2024

• There were more than 40 million AO web and app visits

• AO social channels had 2.32 billion impressions – up 11% year-on-year

• 453.8 million impressions generated by AO influencers.

Tech & Innovation

• More than 150% page views of AO coaches box technology

• More than 70 coaches box interviews conducted

• 12 new startups launched at the AO25.

About the study
Tennis Australia commissioned IER Pty Ltd to conduct the economic impact assessment for the Australian Open 2025. This study follows on from the research that had previously been conducted by Nielsen Sports.

• AO 2025 generated $565.8 million

• AO 2024 generated $533.2 million

• AO 2023 generated $375.3 million

• AO 2022 generated $267.3 million

• AO 2021 generated $138 million

• AO 2020 generated $387.7 million

• AO 2019 generated $347.2 million

• AO 2018 generated $293.2 million

• AO 2016 generated $278.1 million

• AO 2014 generated $245.5 million

• AO 2012 generated $239 million

• AO 2010 generated $160 million.

 Image. Australian Open crowd. Credit: Shutterstock