News
Sandown event breaks Shannons Nationals attendance and viewer records
The Sandown Shannons Nationals event, featuring the much-anticipated debut of S5000, was officially the biggest ever Shannons Nationals round on record – both attendance at the track and the broadcast audience.
Sandown featured the debut of the exciting S5000 Series, along with the carsales TCR Australia Series coverage, which also drew big numbers through Shannons Nationals’ SBS coverage.
The CAMS produced online stream and SBS broadcast, featured racing from S5000, TCR, Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge, Kumho Tyres Super3 Series, CAMS Australian Endurance Championship and the MRF Tyres Australian Production Cars Series. The online stream had a record 164,275 viewers across two days of streaming – more than double the previous record which came at the opening round of the Shannons at Sydney Motorsport Park in May this year.
The SBS ratings were also strong, with an average of 60,198 watching on Saturday, while an average of 58,770 tuned in on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the official attendance for the weekend was 11,820.
The event also incorporated Shannons Nationals’ charity partner, Very Special Kids – with 10 per cent of all ticket sales going to the organisation, as well as extra donations that were collected at the venue and online.
CAMS CEO Eugene Arocca said the live stream and TV broadcast was going from strength-to-strength.
“We’re absolutely delighted with the growing audience watching on both SBS and via our two day live stream,” Arocca said.
“Our team has put in significant work in taking the Shannons Nationals and its broadcast to the next level in 2019 and we are extremely proud of everyone who worked on this event, including the production and broadcast crew.
“It’s certainly encouraging that we witnessed more than 11,000 people at Sandown over three days. This shows how far the Shannons Nationals program has come in recent years.
“To see the grandstand so full on both Saturday and Sunday at Sandown was certainly an indication that the Shannons Nationals has a strong future.
“Obviously there was significant interest in the debut of the S5000 category and speaking to fans and stakeholders, everyone was certainly impressed with the show they put on over the course of the event.
“Matt Braid and the entire team at the Australian Racing Group (ARG) should be extremely proud of the debut of S5000 as well as the continued success of TCR here in Australia.
“There was also strong interest in the other four categories which were exclusively part of the live stream and they provided some excellent racing across the weekend which captivated viewers online and at the track.”