'It's great for everybody' - Ed Chamberlin thrilled at strong ITV numbers

ITV Racing will seek "to be innovative" and accentuate the positives of the sport amid social media criticism as it celebrates five years of coverage, according to lead presenter Ed Chamberlin.

The well-known frontman is delighted with what has been achieved in that period, with a Bafta win in 2018 for the previous year’s Grand National coverage a highlight, but is keen to see ITV’s coverage develop further in 2022 following a strong festive period for the channel.

More than a million people watched Tornado Flyer's shock King George victory on Boxing Day, while Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day fixture was another high point with a peak audience of 997,000.

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"After we came off air at Cheltenham that New Year's Day I think the people I worked with in football would have all their money on me lasting a few months, not five years," Chamberlin said.

"It's a challenge I love. Gary Neville had a huge influence on me, he always said you can never stand still in both sport and television – it's that Sir Alex Ferguson mentality – hence when we were doing well on Monday Night Football we brought Jamie Carragher in.

"I've very much got that mindset with ITV Racing. That's why I'm thrilled we've got the Sunday series getting bigger, Winter Million coming up and the Racing League too. We're always looking to be innovative."

A peak of 1.1 million was recorded for the King George, with an average of 829,000 and audience share of 8.8 per cent. The average and the peak are down from the lockdown figures of 2020 but up from the 781,000 and 561,000 the previous year.

Figures were also up for the broadcast on December 27 which featured the Coral Welsh Grand National and return of Shishkin at Kempton. A peak was recorded of 758,000, up over 100,000 from 2019, while share grew to 5.5 from 4.5 per cent.

The trend continued for New Year's Day with the peak up almost 50,000 and an increased share to 8.5 per cent, although the channel’s autumn Flat viewing figures were not so impressive with interest dropping in marquee days like the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Future Champions Day and British Champions Day.

Frodon's 2019 win at the Cheltenham Festival a key moment for ITV RacingCredit: Edward Whitaker

Chamberlin said of the festive figures: "It's a great result for everybody. It shows what it can do when you've got good stories in Rachael [Blackmore] and Bryony [Frost] and with a decent size field. In 2019 we had less than 800,000 but this season we had a good line-up and we promoted it well to get 1.1 million, which is a great number. I'm thrilled with it."

The 'golden hour' in which Frodon and Paisley Park both won at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival was one of the key moments in the last five years of ITV Racing, which also included broadcasting big meetings throughout lockdown and Rachael Blackmore's history making Grand National success.

"The most satisfactory thing is how people have stayed with the show and grown over the years," Chamberlin reflected. "We're showing racing on an entertainment channel and hopefully it's entertaining, we're trying our best.

"It's a real challenge and we get a lot of criticism. Everything does, especially on social media. It's very easy to pander to criticism on social media and it always worries me that people in racing, particularly the younger folk, put too much influence on it. When you're a presenter you've got to block that out and look at the bigger picture. It's important to see the broad church that you're broadcasting to.

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"We are racing's window to the world, that's why we're so keen to work with racing as partners. The sport has its problems but there are so many positives there.

"It's a really exciting year ahead. It's the Platinum Jubilee and it's such an opportunity for the Derby to get back a bit of its gravitas and stature it formerly had."

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