The 36th America’s Cup presented by PRADA achieved its clear broadcast and viewership objectives to be the most watched America’s Cup ever with the dedicated viewership audience 3.2 x the size of that from the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017.

An in-depth broadcast and media analysis undertaken by Nielsen revealed the AC36 events (ACWS Auckland, PRADA CUP & America’s Cup Match) between November 2020- March 2021 reached a total global TV and live streaming audience of 941 million people globally.

The coverage consisted of:

● 21 live production days
● 25 live press conferences
● 21 daily 26min highlights
● 7 weekend/event 52min highlights
● 30 video news releases
● Racing clips + melt reels
● 140 features each lasting 3min
● 3 magazine/preview shows
● 1 post event documentary: The Last Call

The TV graphics by Animation Research Ltd in Dunedin continued to lead the innovation through the implementation of on water augmented reality graphics which helped to tell the story of the dramatic racing in the AC75’s, as well as providing additional highly effective exposure to the event sponsors.

Social media was a further area of strong growth across all the America’s Cup channels. Followers more than doubled from 491k to 1.09m between the 35th and 36th America’s Cups. Social media channels delivered over three times more impressions than the previous 35th edition, increasing from 159m to 499m impressions during the racing period and totalled 715m impressions over the entire 36th America’s Cup campaign.

Viewing of racing online and through social media was integral to the overall viewership strategy. By reserving the digital rights for the event to enable live streaming of the racing for free to as many people globally as possible and by streaming on YouTube, Facebook and americascup.com, the America’s Cup grew the dedicated audience by 10.2m viewers, which is equivalent to 19% of the TV audience.

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