Weekend TV Ratings – AFL R9, NRL R11, Super Rugby
AFL Round 9
With Port and Gold Coast having the bye there was only 8 matches this week, all of which featured on Free to Air tv in various areas.. The top rating game on Free to air tv was Friday nights Geelong v Western Bulldogs game which attracted 676,000 metro and 255,000 regional viewers. Total Free to air viewing for the round was 2.418 million.
On Foxtel, the highest rating match of the week was also Friday nights Geelong v Western Bulldogs game – which was the highest rating sports event on Foxtel all weekend – at 295,000 viewers. The Brisbane v Adelaide game on Saturday set the seasons lowest audience with just 86,000 viewers on Foxsports 3. Foxfooty was again rated the number 1 channel on Foxtel by ASTRA for the sixth week in a row, and making it 7/9 for the season. 1.618 million people watched live matches on Foxtel.
For the season, AFL free to air matches are up 8% on average and 1.38% overall, .. In the metro areas, Sydney remain down 15% to a 27,000 average, Melbourne are up 6% to 297,000, Brisbane are up 26% to 28,000 , Adelaide are up 16% to 114,000 and Perth is up 3% to 105,000.
On Foxtel the AFL maintains a small lead over 2016 up just 0.44%Average Fox Audiences are Sydney – 15,000, Melbourne 89,000, Brisbane 13,000, Adelaide 20,000, Perth 29,000, metro 163,000, regional 40,000 and national 194,000.
In Total the AFLs TV ratings are up around 3% on 2016 to 41.059 million for 2017.
For those playing at home, this also marks the 6th week in a row that the AFL has beaten the NRL for total 2017 ratings, 4.124 million to 3.997 million. However we rate the NRL slightly higher than the AFL overall for the year with 49.235 million (including Preseason, Rep matches, NZ estimates, Consolidated FTA adjustments and ASTRA adjustments) to 48.887 million (including AFLW, JLT series, consolidated FTA and ASTRA adjustments).
NRL Round 11
This week is the last full round of matches before State of Origin kicks in. The top rating game on free to air tv was Thursday nights Sharks v Cowboys affair which reached 422,000 metro and 307,000 regional viewers. Total Free to air viewing for the round was 1.949 million.
On Foxtel the highest rating game of the week was Saturday evenings Eels v Raiders clash with 271,000 viwers on Fox League. ASTRA rated Foxleague the #2 Foxtel channel behind Foxfooty for the sixth week running.
For the season NRL free to air matches are down 14% on average with Sydney metro down 23% to a 273,000 average and Brisbane up 11% to 175,000. This season most Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth ratings are not available, however these matches shown on GEM colectively average 30,000 for the season.
Foxtel matches are down slightly, just 0.43% to an average of 236,000. (Syd 93,000 ave, Mel 14,000 Bris 46,000 Adl 3,000 Per 6,000 Metro 161,000 Reg 76,000).
In total the NRL ratings are down 5% overall down to a total of 43.03 million for 2017.
Super Rugby Round 13
Just one match this week featuring Australian teams made the ratings – Saturdays Force v Highlanders match rated 32,000. Super Rugby’s Australian teams rate an average of 53,000 in 2017, down 12% from 59,000 in 2016. Overall Super Rugby ratings are averaging 49,000 for the season, down 15% from 59,000 in 2016. It should be noted that there is significant data missing.
