The just-concluded 2025-26 Ashes series between England and Australia played Down Under has recorded the highest average audience of any Test series on Kayo SPORTS, and across all Foxtel Group platforms in Australia.

The series, which saw Australia win 4-1, also recorded 1.3 billion minutes streamed, making it the most streamed ever on Kayo SPORTS, and across all Foxtel Group platforms, a Foxtel media statement has stated.

The Foxtel Group, which started in 1995 as a joint venture between Rupert Muroduch-founded News Corporation and Australian telco Telstra, is the original pay TV innovator Down Under. The business, now sold to DAZN, has interests that include subscription television, streaming, sports production and advertising, apart from five retail brands that together reach almost one in two Australian households. These brands include Foxtel, Kayo Sports (the sports streaming service), entertainment streaming platform BINGE, Flash (news streaming service) and Hubbl, a TV technology to instantly upgrade TV and streaming.

Kayo SPORTS audiences, as per the Foxtel Group press release, soared 31 percent when compared to the Australia v India series in 2024-25. When compared to the last Ashes series on Australian soil in 2021-22, Kayo SPORTS audiences were up 112 percent.

FOX SPORTS Managing Director Steve Crawley said in a statement: “It was an exhilarating series with twists that no one could have anticipated, and Australians turned to Fox Sports in record numbers to watch another chapter in one of the world’s greatest rivalries. The success of this series on our platforms reflects the deep connection audiences have with our coverage, alongside the strength of cricket across the country.”

FOX SPORTS coverage featured every Test live and in 4K Ultra HD, with no ad breaks during play and a world-class commentary team led by Adam Gilchrist and including Kerry O’Keefe, Alyssa Healy, Brett Lee, David Warner, Brendon Julian, Michael Hussey, Isa Guha and Michael Vaughan.

Innovations in this series included Fox Focus, a next generation telestrator technology that provided real-time player and field tracking analysis and Fox Playbook, a revolutionary tool that predicted player match-ups and ball-by-ball strategies.

Other highlights from the five-Test, five location series were that the  Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth Tests recorded the top three highest average audiences ever for Tests on Kayo SPORTS and across Foxtel Group platforms.

The Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne Tests achieved the highest Test audiences ever for their locations on Kayo SPORTS, and across Foxtel Group platforms.

Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia CEO, said: “We are all enormously proud of the efforts of the Australian team in retaining the Ashes with a dominant display.

“This yet again underlined the strength of our high-performance program including our coaches, selection panel and support staff. The enormous crowds and audiences for the series were beyond even our most optimistic forecasts and we’re delighted that so many Australians enjoyed the action in brilliant stadiums, on the couch or at the beach.”