After each new year starts, the world turns its attention to Melbourne as the Australian Open (AO) begins.
The major tennis event supports many sponsors and injects a large sum into the Victorian economy, with this year’s tournament expected to inject $482 million into the Melbourne hospitality and tourism industry.
According to Nielsen Sport, the 2024 Open contributed A$533.2 million to the state’s economy and $3.14 billion over the past 10 years, cementing it as Australia's largest generator in sports.
Australian Open Tournament Director, Craig Tiley says he is proud of the immense impact the AO has on Victoria’s economy every year.
“Beyond the substantial economic benefits, the Australian Open showcases Melbourne and Victoria to billions of people worldwide, inspiring more to visit our vibrant city and state and further fuelling our economic growth,” he said in a media release.
Smashing travel expectations
One of the biggest drivers of economic growth is tourism, with people visiting all round the world to experience one of four world grand slams and an Australian summer.
In 2024, visitors to the AO booked 622,491 nights in Victorian hotels, an increase of 8.3%, smashing the previous record of 574,970.
Visitors to Melbourne also increased by 7.34% last year, with 56.32% of attendees being from Melbourne, 34.1% from intrastate and interstate and 9.58% from overseas.
This means there’s traction not only for AO-sponsored hotels, like the Marriot which spends an estimated $3 million annually on its AO sponsorship and offers special AO-inspired experiences, but also for other nearby hotels.
This includes the Hotel Chadstone MGallery, which, despite being just outside the CBD, experiences growth thanks to the AO.
“(We) benefit from the international visitors here for the Tennis who want to enjoy a location outside the CBD whereby they can get a very affordable option in a five star hotel during a peak special event period,” Hotel Chadstone MGallery general manager, Karen Taylor, says.
“Whilst travelling primarily to follow the tennis, it is not uncommon for travellers to add on extra nights to explore further, and hotels such as Chadstone see an increase in occupancy during this period.”
Ace partnerships
There are mutual benefits from the AO’s corporate sponsorships.
The average daily spend per visitor for the AO was the highest on record in 2024, with each visitor shelling out $308 on average daily, which is a 6.2% increase from 2023 and 47.8% increase from the 2020 pre-pandemic event.
The highest-paying sponsor of the AO is Kia, who signed a $107 million deal that would extend its 22-year run at the AO for another five years. Kia is estimated to spend $20 million on marketing at the AO annually.
Another lofty deal the AO made was with Emirates. The five-year deal is believed to be worth around $35 million.
Last year, Kia was mentioned 21,500 times on social media, wrapping the open with a 58% share of voice according to Meltwater data. Despite this, Rolex took out the top spot for logo recognition with 43.3%.
Ross Candido, VP of ANZ and SEA at Meltwater says it is important for brands to keep up logo recognition and measure mentions online.
“Sponsors must equip themselves with the tools to measure attribution, enabling them to not only justify their brand investments but also gain valuable real-time insights to identify new opportunities to drive further impact,” he said.
The tournament saw a total of 2.53 million social media mentions, a massive increase form the 1.99 million mentions in 2023.
To gain more visibility to the tournament and its sponsors off-court, the AO also partnered with oOh!media. oOh! plans to expand the advertising to commuter environments by combining designs of live score updates with sponsors' logos.
“We know that millions of Australians love the Australian Open and we can’t wait to bring more moments from this iconic event to the masses across the nation, delivering unmissable brand experiences and giving real value to tennis fans,” oOh! group director, sales, Chris Freel says.
Thanks to retail AO partnerships like Ralph Lauren, New Balance and Louis Vuitton, Melbourne shopping centres also reap the benefits.
“At Chadstone, we are seeing a lot more brands aligning collections, merchandising windows and activating pop-ups around the AO tournament,” head of brand and marketing at Chadstone Shopping Centre, Mardi Ashkine, tells Azzet.
“During the AO we also see an increase in tourists to Chadstone who are in town for the tennis, whether they’re staying at the Hotel and taking our free shuttle to the city or staying in the city and coming out to Chadstone to shop.”
Broadcast net gains
Broadcasting partnerships have also proven to be lucrative for the AO on a national and international level.
Locally, Tennis Australia signed a five-year $425 million extension deal from 2025 to 2029 with the 9Network, ensuring Channel Nine and Stan remain the home of tennis.
“Tennis attracts both a broad and very passionate following, and is a perfect fit with Nine’s schedule, audiences and advertisers,” Nine CEO, Mike Sneesby says.
The deal not only allows Nine to broadcast the AO but also the summer of tennis lead-in events.
The current $425 million deal is $125 million higher than Tennis Australia's previous deal with Nine from 2020 to 2024, and a good deal more than what it received annually during its 40-year broadcast partnership with Seven.
According to SportsBusiness, the AO generated around $80 million in 2023 through international rights and around $42 million nationally. Under the new Nine deal, domestic income is expected to rise to around $62 million from this year onwards.
In 2024 there were 558 million global unique viewers of the AO, which is a 57% increase from 2023. There were also 2.71 billion cumulative viewers in 2024, a 24% rise from 2023.