Weekend TV Ratings – AFL R13, NRL R15, Union Test
AFL Round 13
In the last of its “bye rounds” five of the six AFL games this week were broadcast into a free to air market, with four games broadcast into at least two markets.
The top rating game across both free to air and Foxtel was Thursday nights West Coast v Geelong game which garnered 632,000 viewers in metro areas, 206,000 regional viewers and 249,000 Foxfooty viewers for a total of 1.087 million. This makes the match the 14th game this season to rate more than a million viewers across free and pay tv.
- R 5 – Essendon v Collingwood (ANZAC Day) – 1.539 million
- R11 – Geelong v Adelaide (Fri N) – 1.247 million
- R9 – Geelong v Western Bulldogs (Fri N) – 1.233 million
- R3 – Sydney v Collingwood (Fri N) – 1.226 million
- R10 – Sydney v Hawthorn (Fri N) – 1.222 million
- R6 – G. Western Sydney v Western Bulldogs (Fri N) – 1.203 million
- R2 – Western Bulldogs v Sydney (Fri N) – 1.176 million
- R1 – Collingwood v Wester Bulldogs (Fri N) – 1.126 million
- R13 – West Coast v Geelong (Thu N) 1.087 million
- R1 – Carlton v Richmond (Thu N) – 1.067 million
- R10 – Geelong v Port Adelaide (Thu N) – 1.047 million
- R2 – Richmond v Collingwood (Thu N) – 1.032 million
- R8 – St Kilda v G.Western Sydney (Fri N) 1.023 million
- R7 – West Coast v Western Bulldogs (Fri N) – 1.022 million
On Free to air television total ratings for the round were 2.229 million. Thursdays game was the highest rating for the round polling 838,000 viewers, while Friday only managed 669,000 and Saturday night even less at 549,000. The Swans match was only broadcast into Sydney and pulled in 47,000 viewers, its third highest audience for the season.
Total Foxtel ratings were 1.4 million. Sundays stand alone pay tv exclusive game between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne rated 284,000. Foxfooty regained the number 1 channel position on subscription television from Foxleague.
For the season, the AFL has rated 57.6 million for the year, including 27.8 million in metro ratings (up 14% on same time in 2016), 8.18 million in regional ratings (up 6%), and 21.4 million (very narrowly up 0.36%), while trailing last season by 6 matches.
In Sydney the league averages 28,182 on 7mate (down 13%) and 16,213 on Fox. In Melbourne, AFL rates an average of 294,478 on 7 (up 6%), and 87,231 on Foxtel. Perhaps surprising is Brisbane with ratings on 7mate averaging 26,460 (Up 28%) and a further 12,730 on Fox. Adelaide is riding the crest of success with Sevens ratings up 19% to 115,788 on average, and 20,878 on Fox. Perth is also going reasonably well up 14% on 7/7mate to 96,333 and a further 27,560 – making Perth the second highest Fox market for the AFL.
All up, the AFL would be more than pleased with its season to date, Womens AFL got off to a great start, main season crowds are up, FTA ratings are up, Fox ratings are up. The CBA has finally been put away, and any time from 1st down to 16th can still qualify for the finals in one of the most even seasons in memory.
NRL
As we head into Origin 2, the NRL had 4 games this week, 2 of which were on FTA nationally.
The top rating NRL game for the round on FTA and Fox was Friday nights Souths v Titans clash which pulled in 888,000 viewers on Nine/Gem and Foxleague. Sundays game rated a total of 816,000.
The NRL has had 6 games cross the million rating mark in Australia for the season, with a further 2 possible when NZ ratings are included (Note: NZ ratings strictly based on estimates using last released data from 2014 – theres no way its accurate, ratings were on a downward trend at that point)
- R2 – Brisbane v North Queensland, Fri N – 1.203m
- R3 – Melbourne v Brisbane, Thu N – 1.183m
- R1 – Cronulla v Brisbane, Thu N – 1.141m
- R5 – Canterbury v Brisbane, Thu N – 1.1m
- R8 – Sth Sydney v Brisbane, Fri N – 1.032m
- R9 – Brisbane v penrith, Thu N – 1.027m
- R14 – Brisbane v South Sydney, Fri N – 1.002m
- R8 – Sydney v St George, ANZAC Day – 1.001m
Note the prominence of Thursday night footy.
On Free to air television, ratings for Round 15 were 1.28 million, with Thursdays game rating the higher of two matches at 682,000. Sundays game averaged 598,000 viewers across the Nine network nationally.
Total Foxleague ratings for the round were 943,000, with Saturday evenings Melbourne v North Queensland rating 265,000 – narrowly ahead of the evening game which rating 254,000. For this week, Foxleague was rated the number 2 STV channel by ASTRA.
For the season, the NRL has rated a total of 54.06 million viewers in Australia (down 4% on the same time last year), and as much as 56.92 million when New Zealand is taken into account. This includes 16.76 million in metro ratings (down 10% on the same time in 2016), 10.95 million in Regional ratings (down 11%), 27.715 million in total FTA (down 10%) and 25.83 million on Fox (down 1.29%).
In Sydney, FTA ratings have been hit hard down 25% to 197,000 average on Nine and 92,000 on Fox. In Brisbane ratings are up 1% to 154,000 on Nine, and a further 46,000 on Fox. Individual FTA ratings for Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth are too sporadically released this year to gain sufficient data, but GEM ratings across all three cities average 30,000 per match. Fox averages 13,000 in Melbourne, 2,000 in Adelaide and 6,000 on Perth.
Some insight could be gained from a report on DeciderTV that shows the trend towards watching live sport on mobile devices. The report revealed the unique audience for Origin increased by 47% on mobile compared with the same match last year
Rugby Union
Australia v Scotland rated 274,000 on Network Ten and a further 171,000 on Foxtel.
Notes:
- All figures should be considered a guide only.
- All ratings are sourced from Oztam via reporting agencies such as Mediaweek, Medisapy, DeciderTV, TvTonight, and Mr TV through their twitter feeds and websites.
- Figures are inclusive of consolidated ratings (metro tv only, as reported by TV Tonight) and adjusted accordingly. All other figures are based on preliminary overnights.
- Please feel more than free to offer additions or corrections. This is a one man show, and i can use the feedback.
