Exceptional weather on Grand National day has been "suggested as one reason for an abrupt decline in the viewing figures" for Saturday's race, which was broadcast on ITV for the first time, according to Greg Wood of the London GUARDIAN. ITV Racing’s coverage of One For Arthur’s victory drew a five-minute peak audience of 8.2 million, an 18% drop from a peak of 10 million in '16, "when the National was covered by Channel 4," although ITV’s audience share during the race was 62%, up 3% on C4’s share in '16. ITV paid around £30M ($37M) to "secure a four-year monopoly on terrestrial coverage of racing" that began in January, ending the sport’s 32-year association with C4. The "bare figures" for ITV’s coverage appear "deeply disappointing." However, the headline number should also be seen in the context of a "huge drop" in the total TV audience on Saturday afternoon, "when the warm temperatures and cloudless skies at Aintree reflected the weather nationwide." The overall U.K. TV audience between 2pm and 6:20pm on Saturday was down by 27%, the equivalent of 3.3 million "fewer people in front of their TVs," while ITV’s 62% peak share of that audience was the station’s "highest for any event since England’s match against Iceland in Euro 2016 last June." ITV4’s average audience figures are behind C4's, so from racing’s point of view, the high-profile events need to see a "significant increase in their audience" to justify the £30M price tag on the rights (GUARDIAN, 4/9).
