The Australian Open (AO) wrapped up in stunning fashion with Spanish young gun Carlos Alcaraz joining Kazakh star Elena Rybarkina in taking home the silverware. But for advertisers, the competition for eyeballs was just as hot as the searing forehands exchanged on court.
To identify which big names and categories served up scorching aces for brands, GumGum’s Mindset Graph was powered up to help advertisers understand the key numbers behind the AO.
The findings showed that on 1 January, mentions of the AO sat at a modest 1903. This grew steadily as the tournament’s opening week kicked off on 12 January with 16,857 mentions. However, the true peak arrived with the start of the main draw on 18 January, with the conversation eventually reaching 47,482 mentions by 20 January. This represents a staggering 2,395 per cent increase from the beginning of the month, demonstrating how the start of the Grand Slam captures the nation’s focus almost instantly.
While the scoreboard tracked games and sets, the battle for online awareness saw a shift in the status quo. Jannik Sinner emerged as the ‘Attention King’ of the first week (12-20 Jan), amassing 88,266 mentions and outpacing even the polarising Novak Djokovic, who recorded 74,649 mentions. Sinner’s victory over Hugo Gaston on 20 January alone drove 26,229 mentions. Meanwhile, Djokovic’s battle against Pedro Martinez created a concentrated burst of engagement, recording 32,428 mentions on Day 1 of the main draw and 31,453 the following day.
Alcaraz also made his presence felt early, recording his highest mentions during the first week on January 18 with 12,571, following his victory over Aussie Adam Walton. While Rybakina was a more low-profile presence during the opening rounds, her eventual triumph signals her arrival as a major force. As both their stars continue to rise, advertisers can expect these champions to be even bigger focal points for viewers in 2027.
Local hope Alex De Minaur followed closely behind Sinner in total mentions (51,176), proving that home-grown success is a massive attention driver. This groundswell of support shows that linking products to local scrappers like ‘The Demon’ is a winning play, leveraging national pride to drive deeper impact with the Aussie audience.
“The results we’ve seen demonstrate how audience focus is shaped by the momentum of big names. For advertisers, it is a reminder that the most powerful link for brands is often found in the people who define these massive cultural moments,” said Alex Hill, account director at GumGum.
Where Australians leaned in most
Beyond Melbourne Park, the Mindset Graph revealed exactly where fans were directing their focus when they weren’t glued to the baseline rallies. The first week of the AO saw audiences deeply engaged with investing safe havens and summer lifestyle topics, with top-performing categories including Gold Trade In (4.22 s avg. attention time), Travel Planning (4.21 seconds), and Food and Beverage Services (4.15 seconds), all averaging over 4.15 seconds of attention.
High dwell times were also observed in Home Improvement (4.10 seconds), suggesting those taking a holiday break were looking for ways to spruce up their domains. Interestingly, some of the highest engagement levels were found in lifestyle pockets like Dating, which saw 4.93 seconds of attention time, followed closely by eSports (4.80 seconds) and Parenting (4.65 seconds). This diverse spread of interests serves as a reminder to marketers that while the game brings the audience together, their curiosity spans a wide range of personal and practical topics.
“The 2026 Australian Open demonstrates once again that attention goes hand in hand with emotion, and during a tentpole sporting event, fans are in a highly receptive mindset. Understanding where and why audiences are most engaged allows brands to align with the nation’s mood and amplify their messages in high-attention environments,” concluded Hill.
“By matching the energy of the tournament through contextually relevant creative, whether it’s travel for the summer holidays or tech for the new year, brands can move beyond simple visibility to putting their products in front of receptive audiences at the perfect moment”
