It was another big sporting weekend with the World Cup Nines, Rugby World Cup Finals, opening round of the WBBL, and the ongoing seasons of the A-League and NBL.
The highest rating sporting event of the weekend was the Rugby World Cup quarter-final between Australia and England with 898,000 viewers nationally –. It was the highest viewed on Foxtel and free to air television as well.
Rugby League World Cup Nines
The Rugby League Nines tournament dominated Foxtel ratings on Friday and Saturday night. A total of more than 2.7 million viewers watched at an average of 117,000 per game. World Cup broadcasts dominated the Foxtel top 20 ratings for both days, but especially Saturday, where it took 16 places in the top 20. (although the top 3 went to the Rugby World Cup).
161,000 people watched Australia play New Zealand on Friday, while on Saturday, the final between Australia and New Zealand was the top rating match with 159,000 viewers. The women’s final, also between Australia and New Zealand, rated 149,000 on Fox.
Foxtel viewership for Rugby League in Australia has now passed 50 million for the year at an average viewership of 211,000 per match, and a calendar year total of more than 116.23 million across both Nine and Fox platforms at an average of 490,000 per game, consuming 190 million hours of live rugby league.
Rugby Union World Cup
Australia’s final match of the World Cup against England was watched by 898,000 nationally, including 595,000 on Ten and a further 294,000 on Foxtel.
The remaining quarter-finals on Sunday attracted healthy audiences with 231,000 switching on for New Zealand v Ireland, 222,000 tuning in for Japan v South Africa, and 201,000 watching Wales v France.
A-League
Round 2 of the 2019-20 A-league season was watched by 184,000 viewers on Foxtel and a further 46,000 in the metro cities on the ABC.
In 2019, the A-League averages around 41,000 per game on Fox (there are two games with no ratings reported), and 47,000 on the ABC in the five cities. This is down from the 57,000 Fox average for the first two rounds last year, and down from the 65,000 FTA average on 10 Bold last season over the same period.
Friday nights Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC was the highest rating game of the round on Foxtel with 46,000 viewers nationally.
The FFA Cup final on Wednesday night rated 40,000 on Foxtel, down from 78,000 the previous year.
WBBL
Round 1 of the Women’s Big Bash commenced on Friday with the Sixers v Thunder at North Sydney watched by 418,000 on Seven nationally and 43,000 on Foxtel.
The round finished with an average of 135,000 on Seven in the metro catchments and 34,000 on Foxtel.
NBL
Round 3 of the NBL was watched by 82,000 on SBS Viceland, in the metro catchment areas, with all three matches lifting at least 30% on the broadcasts from the previous week and a season average of 24,000 – up from the 22,000 experienced on Nine’s Go! in the final weeks of the broadcast there.
Sunday’s game between Melbourne and Perth was watched by 44,000 nationally on the public broadcaster.
ESPN data was only available for Friday’s matches rating 17,000 and 16,000 on pay-tv – but with half the season data unreported at the moment, it’s hard to arrive at an accurate average.
Netball
The third game of the Constellation Cup series between Australia and New Zealand had almost double the metro audience of the previous weekends match with 119,000 viewers watching on Nine in the five major cities (up from 66,000 the past Sunday). There’s one match to come this Sunday on Nine.
Motorsport
The Japan MotoGP was watched by 63,000 on Foxtel.
Jason Lassey is a sports industry blogger focussed on the Attendances, Financials and TV Ratings of professional sport in Australia. A long time Carlton supporter, he longs for the heady days of 1995 to come around once more.
Twitter – @footyindustryAU
Website – http://www.footyindustry.com/