Television audience
The John Smith’s Grand National is always a highlight of the televised sporting calendar and the 2006 running was no exception. The BBC deployed 52 cameras around the course, including four in fences and three rider-cams.

A domestic audience of 8.3 million people saw the live broadcast (61% share of the TV audience) on BBC1’s Grand National Grandstand, providing the highest viewing figure for a sporting event outside of football.

Viewing performance v other national sporting events
The John Smith’s Grand National – audience 8.3m
The Vodafone Derby – audience 3.7m
The London Marathon – audience 3.3m

Radio coverage
Mark Saggers hosts a big Five Live Sport preview from Liverpool on the Friday live with the jockeys who will contest the big race at Aintree the next day. Mark also presents Five Live’s coverage of the top races with live commentary on all three days from Aintree, culminating with the John Smith’s Grand National on the Saturday. There will be previews and interviews in programmes across the Five Live schedule.

Racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght has the latest runners and riders, course news and interviews with top names. Luke Harvey’s
breakfast bulletins includes top tips. John Hunt heads up the commentary team of Dougie Fraser, Matthew Hill and Gary O’Brien.

International
In addition to worldwide news access and online reports, BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, distributes the race to 140 countries worldwide, making the John Smith’s Grand National very much a global event.