AFL Community Series breaks viewing records on Fox Footy

Footy fans are clearly keen for the commencement of the 2021 AFL season with the weekend of pre-season matches delivering strong audiences for Foxtel and Kayo.

Fox Footy has hit the ground running with the pre-season 2021 AFL AAMI Community Series averaging 131,000 viewers, the highest rating pre-season tournament since 2013 (average 147,000 over 30 matches).

The 9-match 2021 tournament was up +51% on the first nine matches of the 2020 tournament and up +53% on the entire 2020 tournament average.

Foxtel audiences grew 26% on the first nine matches Year on Year, and 29% on the 2020 tournament average, while streaming on Kayo grew 142% on the first nine matches YoY, and 134% on the 2020 tournament average.

The Collingwood v Richmond blockbuster on Friday night was the highest rating game with an audience of 197,000 across Foxtel & Kayo.

This is the largest AFL pre-season audience since 2016 (Geelong v Collingwood) and the 6^th highest pre-season game on record.  Saturday night’s Geelong v Essendon game was the #2 most viewed, followed by Carlton v St Kilda on Thursday night.

Fox Sports Executive Director Steve Crawley said:

“This is a massive start for footy, and the story the numbers tell is that fans can’t wait for the season’s opening round next week. 

“Fox Footy is back with all our shows, including AFL360, and we are incredibly pleased to have Eddie Betts and Christian Petracca join our line-up.

We have a commentary and production team that’s the best in the business, and with no ad-breaks during play, including for the first time during simulcast matches, fans know that Fox Footy is the go-to place for all the 2021 season football action.”