Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games by numbers

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has today revealed the extent of positive exposure for Queensland generated by the Games that she says will drive more visitors to the Sunshine State over the next decade

An estimated 1.5 billion viewers were expected to see aspects of the Games beamed live from their home broadcasters.

“In Australia close to 16 million viewers tuned in to the Games as Channel 7 dominated the ratings as sessions were beamed live to Australian homes,” she said.

“The worldwide exposure for Queensland will deliver tangible benefits for months and years to come.

“Many of the international media who visited the Games took the chance to visit not just the golden beaches, but other parts of the State including rainforests and the reef.”

Commonwealth Gams Minister Kate Jones said digital and social media coverage was also significant.

During the Games, the GC2018 website attracted around 113 million page views, of which 68 million were unique, while the various social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram) had around 733,600 followers and more than 108.3 million impressions.

Ms Jones said Channel 7’s live broadcast app as well as the Official GC2018 app were the two most downloaded applications in early April.

“The Official GC2018 app alone was downloaded more than 416,000 times,” she said.

“While Australia may have dominated the medal table, it’s clear that Queensland is the real winner – the kind of exposure generated by the Games is something that money can’t buy and a factor that will help to grow our tourism sector for years to come.

“On the sporting front, some 6600 athletes and officials attended the Games representing 71 nations from around the world.

“It’s important to note that 43 countries had athletes win medals, 29 of those were gold.

“The quality of the competition around the venues was also highlighted by there being nine world records and 83 Commonwealth Games records broken during the 11 days of action.

“This produced shareable content for spectators, eager to share their great experience in Queensland with the world.”

Ms Jones said ticket sales exceeded pre-Games expectations with 1.21 million tickets sold in total.

“While a high number of those ticketholders were from southeast Queensland, people came from every state and territory in Australia and across the Commonwealth to cheer on the athletes and attend Games-related activities,” she said.

“I’m confident those visitors will sing the praises of the Coast and the other event cities of Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane, to their friends and families when arrive home.”

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