Slightly Smaller NYE Crowd – Lowest Since NYE2003 (Excluding COVID-19 Pandemic) + Our NYE2025 Review

“Nearly” a million people are estimated to have crowded Sydney Harbour for Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2025.

After reaching a peak of 2 million for Sydney NYE2013 – Shine, this was the smallest crowd since Sydney NYE2003 – City Of Light, when the attendance was 750,000. That is excluding the pandemic-affected editions of NYE2021 – See Sydney Shine (100,000 people) or NYE2020 (barely anyone).

Crowd numbers have been holding at around 1.1 million since Sydney NYE2014 – Inspire. No doubt the drop in attendance this year was due to the December 14 Bondi Beach massacre & Jewish genocide terrorism.

CBD Doesn’t Reach Capacity

Another sign on how the December 14 Bondi Beach massacre & Jewish genocide terrorism affected the event was how the Central Business District (CBD) was never declared as at capacity.

For NYE2024, the CBD was declared as at capacity at 5pm. However, for NYE2025, such a declaration was never made. Darling Harbour, which holds a separate NYE event, was never declared as at capacity while Circular Quay was slower filling than normal with the last Circular Quay vantage point, Dawes Point (Tar-Ra) Park, underneath the south-eastern Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon, reaching capacity at 11:06pm.

Compare this to North Sydney (excluding Blues Point, which was paid ticketed), which for the 2nd year in a row reached capacity before the CBD, filling up at 5:26pm, 58 minutes later than for NYE2024.

Also, despite being near a new firing location for the Midnight Fireworks at White Bay Container Terminal, Giba Park took longer to reach capacity than the year prior. For NYE2024, it filled at 9:11pm while for NYE2025, it filled at 20 minutes to Midnight.

It seems, whilst “nearly” everyone still attended, they were watching from as good a view as they can get from anywhere but the CBD.

Security

This section is regardless of if you attended official ‘Sydney NYE’ events or not in Sydney. It applied to all NYE celebrations in Sydney.

The announcement of “extraordinary” powers for the New South Wales Police on NYE never occurred. The “extraordinary” powers ended up being the long-arms that were announced at the time NSW Police would have on the night.

The long-arms were there to “provide a sense of security to crowds” & were with Traffic & Highway Patrol Command, Police Transport Command, the Public Order and Riot Squad, Operations Support Group, Licensing Police, Mounted and Dog Command, Marine Area Command & PolAir.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner, Peter McKenna, said the majority of people were well-behaved & followed the directions of authorities:

Sydney welcomed in 2026 with iconic fireworks & we saw people come together after a heartbreaking month. Most revellers enjoyed a safe & trouble-free night.

Unfortunately, Police were kept busy by a handful of people doing the wrong thing, particularly a number of illegal fireworks being set off, resulting in several injuries.

The top priority of our operation was the safety of the community & thousands of officers were out in force to ensure people enjoyed their nights and got home without incident.

Peter McKenna, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner

Across the Sydney metropolitan area (which extends from the coast to the Blue Mountains in the west & from the Hawkesbury River in the north to Sutherland and Wollondilly Shires in the south, more than 38 arrests were made including more than 9 in the Sydney CBD and foreshore areas for various offences including affray, offensive manner in/near public place/school & assault including of Police.

Also, about 7pm, following reports of an unauthorised public assembly, officers from Inner West Police Area Command were called to a bridge on Parramatta Road, Camperdown. Under the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration currently in place, 10 people were issued with move on directions, which they complied with.

Lastly, at about 9:30pm, following reports a large crowd were setting off fireworks, emergency services were called to Bright Park, Guildford. A man was treated by paramedics at the scene while a 12-year-old & 14-year-old girl were treated for non-life-threatening injuries before they were taken to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Investigations continue into 4 people who were arrested for allegedly throwing fireworks. This offence can carry a AUD$7500 fine.

Event Crew Statistics

Working on the event were 2,100 accredited personnel, 270 volunteers. Working on the Midnight Fireworks & Calling Country were 100 creatives.

During the event & after it finished at 2am, nearly 100 City Of Sydney staff cleaned City streets & parks with hundreds of extra bins & nearly 40 vehicles used.

Television (TV) Ratings

In Australia, the TV ratings mostly grew on last year especially the opening 13 minutes (average +24%), which may have increased due to the later start time. However, that portion’s peak also significantly declined (peak -12%). The 8:55pm-9:08pm segment also declined but it wasn’t significant (average -0.1%, peak -0.4%). All the NYE2025 Australian TV ratings were as followed:

Time slot/program – average (peak)

• 8:42pm* to 8:55pm – 791,000 (1,035,000)
• 8:55pm to 9:08pm – 1,196,000 (1,549,000)
• 9:08pm to 11:45pm – 1,057,000 (3,438,000)
• 11:45pm to 11:59pm – 1,742,000 (2,379,000)
• Midnight Fireworks – 2,015,000 (2,444,000)
• 12:12am-12:16am* – 233,000 (461,000)

*NYE2024 was 8:31pm & 12:17am respectively.

The ABC is proud to partner with the City Of Sydney to bring the iconic Sydney fireworks & our New Year’s Eve concert to audiences across Australia & around the world on ABC TV, ABC iView, ABC Australia, ABC Radio & our digital and social platforms.

My sincere thanks to everyone involved, particularly our dedicated ABC team, for their tireless work on this special event. Wishing everyone a happy & safe new year.

Kath Earle, ABC’s Arts, Music & Events Head

Things You May Have Missed

In a major expansion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge light show, the western upper arch featured for the 1st time on NYE, hosting 3 sets of spotlight beams for the 1st time.

During the Moment Of Unity, a spotlight beam shone directly up from the top of the eastern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

2 pyrotechnic drones featured on the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the 1st time ever & were located in-between the western pyrotechnic pontoon & the near west pyrotechnic barge. These drones were launched from Wharf 4/5 of Walsh Bay. For the 1st time ever, the eastern drones though were launched from a special barge unlike last year where the drones were launched from the Royal Botanic Gardens.

At 9:39pm-9:40pm & 9:48pm-9:49pm, the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections featured a 60th birthday tribute to Australian preschool learning TV program, Play School. Beginning with a fly-through of the iconic windows, it reveals the Rocket Clock lifting off before going through a series of images of the show’s toys doing human things. It concluded with Humpty falling causing a puff of confetti, only for Humpty to cheekily reappear showing he actually survived the fall. This was likely to be announced on December 31. However, due to the December 14 Bondi Beach massacre & Jewish genocide terrorism, was dispensed with in favour of the City Of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, focusing on the night’s Moment Of Unity, where she revealed a bell being rung 6 times would form part of the soundtrack.

At Midnight, the western Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons were used for pyrotechnics for the 1st time ever. The eastern pylons were not used.

For the 1st time ever, ‘horizontal’ fireworks (introduced in Sydney NYE2008 – Creation: Midnight Fireworks – The Creation Storm) were fired off the centre eastern hangars of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

It had the shortest & smallest barge/pontoon finale ever – a quick burst right before the lower arch waterfall dropped, which began the longest closing sequence on the Sydney Harbour Bridge since Sydney NYE2005 – Heart Of The Harbour, with the 1st minute & 40 seconds involving occasional firings from the barges as well! This was all shaped by Jono Ma’s brilliant soundtrack.

New Year’s Eve is about more than just fireworks & once again we showed the best of Sydney. It was a true reflection of who we are – a diverse, inclusive & creative city.

I was truly impressed by the phenomenal New Year’s Eve show that brought together fireworks, music, lights & pylon projections into a show Sydney will be proud of. 

In a show of support for the Jewish community, we respectfully marked the horrific attack in Bondi that has brought so much sorrow to Sydney over the last few weeks.   

I was moved to see people right across the Harbour embrace the Moment Of Unity, showing the world we will not let this hateful act of terror divide us. We are a respectful, inclusive and welcoming city & a home to so many people of different nationalities and faiths. Sydney demonstrated to the world that we stand together as 1 community.

I’d like to thank our amazing events crew, the thousands of emergency service men & women, security & transport staff, volunteers as well as our clean up teams who gave up their night to allow us to enjoy the celebrations safely.  

I hope New Year’s Eve gave people the chance to end 2025 on a positive note & I wish everyone in Sydney a peaceful, safe and prosperous start to 2026.

Clover Moore, City Of Sydney

Sydney Spectaculars Review

Fireworks

1 pyrotechnic drone on the western side didn’t take off.

Midnight

The entire eastern catwalk failed to fire (except some unintentional pyro during the lower arch waterfall), resulting in the ‘back-to-back’ waterfall not occurring. It was just a lower arch waterfall this edition in the end. Sydney NYE2025 Fireworks Director, Fortunato Foti, was right in saying it was “ambitious” as we’ll have to wait at least a year before another attempt. At least, we had some sort of waterfall this year!

Calling Country

The far west pyrotechnic barge didn’t fire for the 1st minute while the near eastern pyrotechnic barge didn’t fire in the 1st 13 seconds.

Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Projections

Whilst the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections begun at sunset, the full-pylon main creative sequences began later than usual at 9:22pm, well after families may have left, following Calling Country. They appeared 21 times from then on until 2am (excluding the Midnight Fireworks sequence) with varying durations of up to 16 minutes long. The creative sequences still appeared during the ‘Welcome To Sydney’, event partner acknowledgement & production credits projections, which also occurred prior to 9:22pm. However, they weren’t the main focus those times & in the latter’s case, were only upper pylon. Whilst there was an intended 3-part narrative to the main creative sequences, it was hard to discern which segments were which as the 3 parts were mixed together rather than being distinct separate as well as progressing forward creatively as the night got closer to Midnight.

Those full-pylon main creative sequence projections were repeated during the Midnight Fireworks, though synchronised to the music that time. However, this repetition loses their uniqueness. The Midnight Fireworks needs a special sequence that is the debuting finale of the rest of the night’s projections. Had this been done for this edition, the finale would have been the ‘blooming’ of Gymea Lilies, Christmas Bells, Fringe Lilies & the Waratah, which then could have been repeated until 2am, when the projectors are turned off. A new year symbolised by the blooming of flowers. However, this symbolism was a missed opportunity.

Whilst the main creative sequence was said to be of native flora, real & re-imagined, “taking over” the Bridge pylons, it ended up being just projections of real & re-imagined native flora as the real & re-imagined native flora was never ‘growing’ along the pylon’s edges & arches etc. as it would have if they were really “taking over” the Bridge pylons.

Calling Country

Similarly, it was disappointing that, once again, the Calling Country Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections were screened a 2nd time just before the Midnight Fireworks, thus losing their uniqueness for the 8:57pm-9:08pm show. It should have just been shown between 8:57pm & 9:08pm.

Also, the Calling Country projections need to be more focused on in the visual broadcast. The projections form the backbone of the segment’s narrative & need to be shown occasionally so the viewers can see the narrative unfold rather than just seeing fireworks & lights.

Though the latter issue is clearly a broadcaster rather than producer issue, hopefully these issues can be fixed for the next 3 editions of Calling Country, which may be conducted by a new Indigenous organisation, as We Are Warriors’ contract has come to an end.

Nevertheless, we congratulate We Are Warriors for their work on Calling Country, which has been the most creative part of Sydney New Year’s Eve during their tenure.

Welcome To Country/Lord Mayor’s Message

Once again, the Welcome To Country Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections were meaningless without subtitles. However, subtitles were used for the Lord Mayor’s Message, which was screened immediately after & was specially made due to the Bondi Beach massacre & Jewish genocide terrorism. Whilst the 2 segments were produced separately (by We Are Warriors & ABC respectively), both should have subtitles to avoid looking like the City Of Sydney has double standards.

Concert

During his performance of his song, Brother, between 11:10pm & 11:14pm, Matt Corby completely forgot to sing the radio edit & so accidentally swore live to air, dropping the “f-bomb” 3 times – a ‘bombardment’ – bumping up that segment’s Australian TV classification for its New Year’s Day replay & iView coverage from ‘PG: Parental Guidance Recommended’ to ‘M: Recommended For Mature Audiences’ due to “moderate coarse language”.

Moment Of Unity

The bellringer during the Moment Of Unity accidentally hit the bell 43 seconds into the 55 seconds of silence. It was faint & barely noticeable but if you listen carefully, it is there. The bell was rung during the 1st 4 seconds & the last second of what was to be a minute’s silence to signal to spectators, viewers & listeners when the silence was to start & end.

Smoking Ceremony

The Smoking Ceremony at 7:30pm ran behind schedule with the lead vessel, Tribal Warrior, not finishing a semi-circle of Circular Quay by 8:30pm, while it’s support vessels, Mari Nawi and Wirawi, stopping in the south-east corner & to the south-west of the centre of Circular Quay respectively after their entry into the Quay, which would have a been a disappointment for the crowds along East Circular Quay & the Sydney Opera House.