Australian Swimming Trials draw the crowds to the Brisbane Aquatic Centre

Six days of world-class racing at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials attracted more than 16,700 swimming fans through the gates of the Brisbane Aquatic Centre - the highest since pre-COVID - including two sell out nights last Friday and Saturday.

From a broadcast perspective, the event had a total TV reach of over 5.7 million viewers, with a finals session average of 631,000 (586k linear and 45k Broadcast Video On Demand (BVOD)).

The highest total Finals TV audience was for Wednesday’s world record night - when Ariarne Titmus established anew 200m freestyle world record - with 707,000 viewers (653k linear and 53k BVOD).

The event propelled broadcaster Nine to the top metro linear network spot during primetime for total people and all key demographics, while 9Now was the top commercial BVOD platform nationally during prime time.

Building the reach of the event was the media coverage generated, taking the event to a worldwide potential audience of 21 billion people. There were 41,000 media mentions across all platforms including 20,100 for TV, 8,500 for radio and 500 print articles.

On the social media front, engagement across Swimming Australia and the Dolphins Swim Team owned channels skyrocketed. There were almost 3,500 mentions on X, and engagement increased on Instagram by 1896% and on Facebook by 1823%.

The most engaging content being reels involving Cate Campbell, Shayna Jack and Ariarne Titmus’s World Record, while the most shared content includes Tim Hodge’s World Record and Sam Short’s family reaction to his inclusion on the team.

The success of the Trials reflects the popularity of Australia’s highest participation sport, with 5.9 million participants annually, and comes as Swimming Australia launches Pool for Purpose through the SwimAus Foundation.

Ahead of Brisbane 2032, Swimming Australia is looking to drive investment in building a legacy for all and connecting communities through swimming across Australia.

With the aim to raise $2.5 million, a dollar for every litre of an Olympic size swimming pool, the funds will go towards a number of grassroots programs including Para and First Nations participation programs and coach development in regional and remote communities.

Advising that the numbers showed that swimming is Australia’s favourite Olympic and Paralympic sport, capturing the attention of many Australians as they head into Paris, Swimming Australia Chief Executive, Rob Woodhouse commented “these numbers, the engagement in our sport, is testament to the affinity swimming has with the Australian public.

“We are so proud of how our athletes performed and to have a platform that showcases their talents to all of Australia, we couldn’t have asked for a better preparation ahead of Paris."

The 2024 Australian Swimming Trials were held from 10th to 15th June.

Images: Crowds enjoy the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials. Credits: Fluidra (top) and Swimming Australia (below).