2013 AFL TV Ratings
Information sourced from the 2013 AFL Annual Report
As in previous years, the 2013 Toyota AFL Premiership Season consistently attracted strong audiences on free-to-air television on the Seven Network, along with an increasing number of viewers benefitting from the availability of live AFL matches on subscription television
Season
The average gross national audience per round of the Premiership Season (across free-to-air and subscription television) was 4.729 million. The cumulative gross national audience during the home and away season was nearly 109 million. The Toyota AFL Finals Series saw a total cumulative average national audience of 17.084 million across the four weeks, including the Toyota AFL Grand Final.
Seven Network audiences were slightly down year-on-year (0.7 per cent), a smaller decline than the decline for Australian free-to-air television ratings generally, while viewership on subscription television increased by 6.3 per cent year on year. FOX Footy in 2013 remained the best performing channel on the Foxtel platform in fve capital cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth).
The 10 most watched matches of the 2013 Toyota AFL Premiership Season (national average audiences across free-to-air and subscription television) were:
• Round fve, Essendon v Collingwood – 1.673 million (Anzac Day) – the second highest rating home and away match since OzTAM ratings were introduced in 2001, behind only the same game in 2012 which had 1.736 million viewers.
• Round seven, Geelong v Collingwood – 1.592 million
• Round 11, Essendon v Carlton – 1.428 million
• Round 12, Carlton v Hawthorn – 1.407 million
• Round nine, Collingwood v Sydney – 1.375 million
• Round three, Fremantle v Essendon – 1.344 million
• Round 15, Carlton v Collingwood – 1.341 million
• Round 18, Essendon v Hawthorn – 1.320 million
• Round eight, West Coast Eagles v North Melbourne – 1.291 million
• Round 13, Hawthorn v West Coast Eagles – 1.287 million
The most watched regular Fox-produced slot was Saturday twilight, with an average of 249,113 viewers per round, and the most watched regular Fox slot overall was Friday night, with an average of 279,482 viewers per round. The highest-rating Fox match for the season was the traditional Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood, which attracted 398,391 average viewers.
Finals
The Toyota AFL Grand Final was the third highest rating program of the year on Australian metropolitan free-to-air television, with a total national average audience of 3,633,764 in metropolitan and regional Australia for the Seven Network’s telecast while remaining the most watched sporting event on Australian television in 2013. The average Grand Final audience was down on last year, which simply reflected the fact that the Sydney Swans, from Australia’s biggest television market, were not competing. In terms of total reach, the Grand Final coverage was seen by just over six million people nationally, on par with 2013.
Brownlow
Major AFL events during the year also proved popular, with the Brownlow Medal attracting a total average national audience across free-to-air and subscription television of 1.555 million for the vote count and 1.173 million for the Red Carpet event beforehand.
Radio
On average, 1.154 million people listened to AFL matches during the radio survey periods 4-6 in 2013 (these are the three survey periods that fall during the six months of the season). The app/web stream for AFL radio broadcast rights holders via the popular AFL app averaged 400,000 listeners per round of the Premiership Season and an average 249,000 listeners for the Finals Series. A further 72,000 average listeners tuned into web streams on the AFL Website per round of the Premiership Season.