Channel 4’s first broadcast of the Oxford-Cambridge rowing races attracted 3 million viewers, with strong performances among young audiences

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Channel 4’s broadcast of The Boat Race brought in an audience of 3 million to watch the races between Oxford University Boat Club and Cambridge University Boat Club.

A peak audience of 2m saw the climax of the rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge Men, delivering a 31.3% peak audience share as Cambridge secured their fourth consecutive victory. The men’s race also saw a 23.5% peak 16-34 audience share.

Meanwhile, a peak of 1.4m viewers and a 12.9% 16-34 audience share watched Oxford Women claim their first win over Cambridge since 2016.

Coverage of The Boat Race won its slot for both audience and share, including share of young viewers.

It was Channel 4’s debut broadcast of The Boat Race, which last year agreed a five-year deal for the annual rowing race, which will see it broadcast the 100th anniversary of the women’s race in 2027 and the 200th anniversary of the men’s in 2029. 

Pete Andrews, Channel 4 head of sport, said: “The Boat Race is a wonderful sporting occasion and a celebration of brilliant young athletes, and it’s fantastic to see audiences embracing our coverage. In our first year of broadcast on Channel 4, we featured a mix of tradition and innovation, from bringing talent like Jamie Laing and Ade Adepitan into the presenting line-up alongside Clare Balding, to showcasing the Youth Boat Race. This is the start of our five-year partnership with The Boat Race, and we’re excited to see how we can evolve our coverage over next few years.”

Channel 4’s coverage of The CHANEL J12 Boat Race was presented by Clare Balding alongside Jamie Laing and Ade Adepitan, live from the banks of The River Thames. Commentary came from Alex Jacques, with Olympic gold-medal winning rower Martin Cross and Olympic silver-medal winning rower Jess Eddie, while three-time Olympic gold medallist Pete Reed OBE was on pundit duty and broadcaster and mathematician Hannah Fry discussed the science of rowing.

Coverage of The Boat Race 2026 is produced by FilmNova. The executive producers are Lucy Cutler and Phil Sibson.