SailGP, the purpose-driven international sailing league, has revealed record-breaking audience figures for its 2023-24 campaign.
The fourth season of the championship, which began on June 16, 2023, and ran through July 14, 2024, drew a total viewership of 193 million people on dedicated global broadcasts across its 12 races, an increase of 48% on the 2022-23 edition.
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This figure was headlined by viewership in the US on network CBS for its Spain Sail Grand Prix event drew an average of 1.78 million viewers in the country, a record domestic broadcast audience for the league, and the largest broadcast figure for a sailing event in the US in 30 years.
In-person viewership, meanwhile, hit over 200,000 spectators, with a high of 22,000 people attending the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix weekend.
SailGP also saw digital engagement grow across the season, with over 1.4 billion social media views across its digital channels indicative of the competition’s growing reputation.
All this pre-empts an even more ambitious 2024-25 season for SailGP which will feature a record 14-race season featuring four new locations and 11 teams.
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By GlobalDataSailGP Managing director Andrew Thompson stated: “Season 4 has been another record season for SailGP, and these numbers speak to our team’s dedication to building a major sports property fit for the future, and to SailGP athletes who continue to raise the caliber and level of competition across the fleet.”
“With significant growth in fan engagement and global reach, as well as further development of our product on and off the water, the forthcoming 2024-2025 season is set to be even bigger. and better, with new teams and an expanded presence in strategic markets around the world,” Thompson said.
Following the Abu Dhabi season opener across November 23 and 24 this year, the series will head to New Zealand (where Auckland will make its debut) and Australia for back-to-back events in January and February, 2025.
After that, March will encompass two US races, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, across March 15-16 and 22-23, respectively.
Next, the Brazil Sail Grand Prix will run across May 3 and 4, with a host city yet to be announced, while a New York event will take place in June.
The European swing will begin across Germany (August) and Switzerland (Geneva in September), with both countries debuting as hosts.
The location of the inaugural Switzerland SailGP event was announced in mid-June, with Rolex set to serve as the race’s title partner.
Events will also take place in the UK, Italy (Taranto), and Spain (Cadiz), in that timeframe, with that section of the calendar running through early October.
An additional Middle Eastern event – location as yet unknown – will then be held to round out the regular season, before the Grand Final back in Abu Dhabi on November 7 and 8, 2025.
The fourth season of SailGP comes to a close in San Francisco between July 13 and 14.
