AFLW Grand Final a win for SEVEN; NRL solid for NINE; A-League struggles in weekend ratings wrap

Another big week in footy for followers of all codes – including a bigger than expect turn out for the AFL Womens Grand Final on Seven.

The AFL continues to hold steady, NRL ratings stay slightly short of last years figures, the A-league continues stay low, while Union might be on the rise.. Here we break down all the ratings, including those pesky AFL splits on Saturdays and Sundays.

Top rating game over this weekend overall was Friday nights AFL clash at 1.073 million. Thursday nights AFL game led the FTA charge at 839k, it was Saturdays NRL that delivered on Fox with 267k. 

AFL

Round 2 of the 2019 AFL Season finished with good ratings being reported by Seven for both Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs and the AFL Women’s Grand Final. A total of 4.549 million viewers watched the men’s footy over 9 matches with 2.996 million watching on Seven/7mate and 1.553 million watching on Fox Footy or Fox Sports.  Friday nights Sydney v Adelaide clash was the top drawer with 1.073 m total viewers.

AFL Ratings are up in Sydney (+22%), Melbourne (+13.5%), down in Brisbane (-1.5%), up in Adelaide (+12.7%) and down in Perth (-12.7%). Although this time last year, we’d had the public holiday clash on Easter Monday as well. Regional ratings are up 33%, and Foxtel is up 1.2%

AFLW

The AFLW Grand Final attracted 409,000 viewers nationally (+71% on 2018). This included 321,000 in the metro areas (+58%), broken down into the following – Sydney 20k, Melbourne 154k, Brisbane 23k, Adelaide 91k, and Perth 33k) The women’s finale rated 88,000 regionally.

Streaming on 7plus was up 59% on 2018, while Foxtel rated 73,000. (not publicly reported last year)

NRL

Round 3 of the 2019 NRL season finished with a lacklustre Sunday afternoon on Nine, rating 460,000 nationally for its match of the day featuring Wests Tigers and the Bulldogs. A total of 3.721 million viewers watched NRL games live during Round 3 with 1.84 million watching on Nine or GEM and a further 1.88 million watching on Fox League. Thursday nights Brisbane v St George clash was the top rating NRL match of the round at 997,000 viewers across Nine and Fox.

NRL Ratings at the end of Round 3 are up 19% in Sydney but down -1.5% in Brisbane. the GEM markets including Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth are down 18.55% on 2018 leading to an overall metro downturn on FTA of 1.2%. To make matters worse for Nine, Regional ratings are down 14%, with FTA ratings finishing Round 3 down 6.5% overall to an average of 482,000. 

Fox League ratings are having a minor hiccup down 4.2% to an average of 239,000.

Nine also reported that total VPM on 9NOW was 2.4 million minutes, with average VPM up 120% on Round 3 last year.

9Now Live average VPM up 120% from Round 3 2018
9Now Live VPM streams up 86% from Round 3 2018
9Now Live VPM minutes up 115% from Round 3 2018

A-League

Round 23 of the 2018-19 A-league finished with no rating being reported for Sundays Central Coast v Adelaide match on Foxtel. However, the previous 4 matches for the round rated a total of 88,000 with Saturday nights top of the table blockbuster reeling in 34,000 viewers in the late slot.

With several matches not having broadcast ratings publicly reported this season, from 97 out of 115 ratings fixtures we can say the average Foxtel rating for the A-league stands currently at 36,000.

FTA ratings for Saturday nights match this week were just 31,000 in the 5 city metro area on 10 Bold, well down on the 75,000 cited by Greg Rourke in February.

Super Rugby

Only 2 matches this week featured Australian Rugby Union sides, with Fridays Waratahs v Sunwolves (63 k on Fox) game edging out Saturdays Reds v Rebels (60k). Super Rugby matches featuring Australian sides are averaging 62,000 on Fox in 2019, however overall ratings will be lower,