Australian sport offers some of the biggest ratings nights on telly, which makes for a tight race for the gold medal when it comes to the Sports Broadcast TV Boxie.
Seven leads the pack when it comes to Most Popular Sports Broadcast nominees, but a look in by Nine might see them scoop up the award from the five finalists chosen by you in this category.
If you’ve missed out on any of our TV Boxies coverage, check out the TV Boxies tag!
MOST POPULAR SPORTS BROADCAST FINALISTS
AFL GRAND FINAL (Seven)
The 125th annual AFL Grand Final kicked off at Optus Stadium in Perth, and on Seven for everyone watching at home.
The Melbourne Demons defeated the Western Bulldogs, claiming their first premiership since 1964.
It was a ratings juggernaut for Seven, averaging a national viewership figure of 4.11 million, the most-watched Grand Final since 2005. Commentary was led by Brian Taylor.
Back in 1994 the AFL Grand Final picked up the Logie for Most Popular Sports Program, and could make history with an inaugural TV Boxie this month.
BATHURST 1000 (Fox Sports/Seven)
A joint nomination for Fox Sports and Seven, the Bathurst 1000 is Motorsports biggest racing event, with coverage headlined by Jess Yates and Mark Skaife.
With 25 cars entered in the race, it was the duo of Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander who emerged victorious in their Holden Commodore ZB for Triple Eight Race Engineering, completing all 161 laps in a time of 6:10:56.
It was van Gisbergen’s first victory in the race, and Tander’s fourth after winning in 2000, 2009 and 2011. The pair had finished as runners-up in 2019.
The free-to-air coverage on Seven of the Bathurst 1000 has expanded to four days in 2021, with the main race scheduled to begin on Sunday, December 5.
STATE OF ORIGIN (Nine)
The home of NRL is without a doubt on Nine, with the State of Origin the biggest event in the sport, aside from the Grand Final.
In 2021, the News South Wales Blues won both the first and second games of the series, sealing victory and claiming the shield. It wasn’t a clean sweep however, as the Queensland Maroons bounced back to take the third game.
Game I got 1.911 million metro viewers, Game II slightly lower with 1.826 million, and Game III lower again with 1.746 million.
Still, the State of Origin proves to be one of the greatest Australian sport rivalries, and is a constant winner for Nine with coverage led by Nine’s staple sports presenter, James Bracey.
TOKYO OLYMPICS (Seven)
It only comes around every four years but with an extra year’s wait due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics were in high demand across the world.
Broadcasting icon Bruce McAvaney returned for his 11th Olympics in the commentary team.
Seven held the exclusive coverage rights, and the big bucks paid off with 20.2 million Australians tuning in for the full two weeks, from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony. The average full day broadcast audience was up 80% on Rio 2016 in the capital cities and up 71% nationally.
Seven West Media Chief Revenue Officer and Director of Olympics, Kurt Burnette said, “we came into the Games confident Tokyo 2020 would be a success, but the record-breaking reaction from audiences exceeded all expectations”. Australia finished sixth on the medal tally.
The Olympics has been a frequent Logies winner before, with the Rio Olympics winning Most Outstanding Sports Coverage for Seven in 2017.
TOKYO PARALYMPICS (Seven)
Taking place immediately after the aforementioned games, the Tokyo Paralympics screened on Seven with 953,000 watching in the overnight ratings.
The ceremony broke ratings records, toppling the record set by Beijing in 2008 by 42%, and putting it at number one in its timeslot.
Australia finished in eighth for the Tokyo Paralympics, a total of 80 medals, 21 of which were gold.
The commentary team for this event included Paralympic legends Kurt Fearnley and Annabelle Williams, along with Johanna Griggs, Matt White and Emma Vosti.
Cast your vote now in the Most Popular Sports Broadcast category, along with all the rest in the voting poll below. And remember to tune in on November 28 for the live presentation of the TV Boxies!
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