SPORTS RATINGS WRAP | Audiences swell as AFL and NRL march towards thrilling finals

It’s hard to believe, but August is already here. The AFL and NRL march towards the end of their seasons, Super Netball returns from its World Cup hiatus, and the A-league and NBL prepare to front up for another season.

The highest rating game of the weekend was Friday nights Collingwood v Richmond AFL game which attracted 1.037 million viewers. The match was also the highest rating game on FTA television with 786,000 viewers.

The highest rating Pay-TV match of the weekend was Saturday nights Melbourne v Manly fixture on Fox League with 302,000.

NRL

Round 19 of the 2019 NRL season was watched by 3.308 million viewers, with a season total of 66.8 million viewers at an average of 464,000 viewers per match. Over the Calendar year – including Origin, Representative weekend and preseason broadcasts – top level rugby league has rated 78.1 million viewers at an average of 504,000 per match.

During the season, the NRL on Nine has averaged 578,000 viewers per match and broadcast (there’s no difference, all NRL matches on FTA are broadcast nationally).

On Fox League, the NRL averages 234,000 per game. Total NRL viewing on Foxtel during the premiership season is now higher on Foxtel than on Nine.

The highest rating NRL game of the weekend was Thursday nights Cronulla v North Queensland match which reeled in 767,000 viewers.  It was also the highest game of the weekend on Nine with 576,000 viewers.

On Fox League, the biggest draw of the weekend was Saturday nights Melbourne v Manly fixture with 302,000.

Nine reports that 2.3 million people watched match streams on 9NOW over the weekend, with the viewing average up 69% on the same round last season.

5 NRL matches made the Oztam streaming rankings this week with Saturdays Storm v Sea Eagles topping the list at 23,000 VPM on Fox League.

On Sunday, the Canterbury Cup was watched by 10,000 in Sydney, while 12,000 tuned into the Intrust Cup in Brisbane.

AFL

Round 19 of the 2019 AFL season was watched by 3.321 million viewers with a season total of 75.8 million at an average of 468,000 viewers per match. Over the calendar year, the AFL has been viewed by 82.1 million viewers at an average of 374,000 per game – including AFLW, AFLX and JLT series matches.

On the Seven Network during the season, the AFL has an average match audience of 336,000 and an average broadcast audience of 511,000. (The difference being games show in 1 or 2 cities or shown in multiple cities at the same time). Over on Fox Footy and Fox Sports, the average match rating is 169,000.

The highest rating AFL game on the weekend was Friday nights Collingwood v Richmond game which attracted 1.037 million viewers. The match was also the highest rating game on FTA television with 786,000 viewers and the highest rating AFL game on Foxtel with 251,000 viewers.

The VFL rated 37,000 on Sunday in Melbourne, while on Saturday the SANFL was watched by 32,000 and the WAFL by 14,000.

Super Netball

Super Netball had a disappointing return to television after the World Cup, with the weekends matches reaching the lowest capital city ratings this season. Saturdays match reached 62,000 in the 5 cities, while on Sunday 67,000 tuned in.

Motor Sport

On Sunday, the V8s in Ipswich rated 136,000 on Fox, while the qualifying racing on Saturday rated 71,000.

The Formula 1 from Germany rated 111,000 on Sunday, while qualifying rated 78,000 on Saturday

Racing programming dominated Sundays Foxtel ratings with ten of the top 20 programs being racing related.

Rugby Union

Australia played Argentina on Saturday with 232,000 watching on Ten and 117,000 on Foxtel.  

New Zealand v South Africa had 109,000 tune in on Fox. The game had another 12,000 watched streams of the match.

Saturdays Shute Shield was viewed by 10,000 on 7TWO.

Data notes – All Data supplied by OzTAM and RegTAM. Data does not include Kayo or Mobile.