Record low for Derby Day on 10 as viewers switch to Sydney racing

10’s coverage of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival has been dealt another blow with viewers switching to Sydney on Saturday.

For the second year in a row, Melbourne’s historic Derby Day on 10 was forced to compete against Sydney’s Golden Eagle coverage on Seven.

Ratings for Saturday’s coverage of Derby hit a record low with a national audience of just 173k (141k metro) watching the event. The audience figure was down 26% on last year.

By comparison, in 2018 the race secured a national audience of 482k (353k metro).

Saturday’s coverage of The Golden Eagle race drew an average national audience of 227,000 on Seven.

The result means the Derby is now the lowest rating feature race of the Spring so far, falling behind The Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup, The Everest and Golden Eagle.

10 is now in the second year of a $100 million cash/contra deal to secure Digital/Broadcast rights to the four-day race meeting.

The banning of crowds at this year’s event has limited the networks ability to incorporate marque sponsors into the coverage which is being hosted from a remote studio facility.

Network 10 Director of Sport Production, Adam Cush, said:

“AAMI Victoria Derby Day never fails to deliver a cracking start to the country’s cherished carnival. Our broadcast in 2020 required a complete re-set. The seamless system we had in place for 2019 no longer applied in the new environment, which was a challenge our production team eagerly anticipated and embraced. 10 isn’t a one-trick pony!

“The combination of our new on-air team, a fresh new studio on the front lawn of Flemington, and our motivation to truly demonstrate just how national the Melbourne Cup Carnival is, culminated in a Derby Day that will go down in history.”