Viewership, partnerships surge as AO deepens China push

MELBOURNE — "We are the most-watched and the most-liked Grand Slam in China, and we work very hard to continue to give the right content to our Chinese fans,"Cedric Cornelis, chief commercial officer of the Australian Open, told reporters at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Statistics in 2025 showed that 40 percent of the Australian Open's total broadcast and social media audience came from China.

"China is always No 1 or No 2 in viewership alongside Australia. It's a very important market for us,"Cornelis said, adding that the Australian Open has six million followers across different Chinese social media platforms and has received over one billion impressions from China so far during this year's tournament.

The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam that has a full-time team in China, which "has really helped us connect with the Chinese market," he said. "That is how we have such good content on our social media platforms."

"In China, our partners are very active in activating the AO brand, and in promoting tennis in the country. We know that tennis is growing very fast in China. And our partners, such as Luzhou Laojiao, Haier and Luckin Coffee, all organized events around China."

Luzhou Laojiao, a Chinese liquor brand, has been organizing the AO Challenge, an amateur tennis tournament, in more than 30 cities around China. The winners of that tournament are flown to Melbourne to watch the finals.

The Australian Open also uses the sporting event as a means to celebrate diversity and cultural exchanges. Cornelis said this festival brings people from diverse backgrounds together.

"China has produced many tennis players over the years, and we see many Chinese fans here, both Melbourne residents and visitors from China," he said.

"I think that's very important in bringing all those people together at the event. And now that the players are coming from a diverse cultural background, we have a diversity of fan bases to support those players."

According to official Australian Open statistics, Jan 26, the ninth day of the 2026 Australian Open, saw 70,550 visitors to Melbourne Park, a 5.4 percent increase on the previous record set in 2025. The total number of visitors since the main draw began on Jan 18 has reached 835,287.

Cornelis said that one of the secrets of the Australian Open's success is that the event is built on innovation: "Every year we try to do it a little bit better."

Recognizing and embracing history and tradition is also important to the Australian Open, said Cornelis. "That is why we started with an opening ceremony. We invited Roger Federer, one of the legends of the game. I think it's very important for our sport to continue to recognize history, to celebrate the legends of the past, to say farewell to those amazing players who have given us extraordinary times.

"Federer has called us the 'Happy Slam', and, since then, it really stuck. One of the reasons we are the Happy Slam is because we built this enormous festival on top of the tennis," he added.

Xinhua