Football Fans Flocked To The Broadcast Of The Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final Seeing The Central Coast Mariners Take Out The Championship For The First Time In A Decade.
Saturday’s Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final was won by underdogs Central Coast Mariners who beat the favourite Melbourne City 6-1, in the highest scoring final in the championship’s history.
The total national audience was up 51% on the 2021-22 Grand Final and up 62% in 25 to 54s, 58% in under 50s and 39% in 16 to 39s. The match was also #2 in its timeslot on 10 in total people and key demographics.
Adam Cush, Director of Sport Production, Paramount Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) said it was a tremendous broadcast and the biggest A-League Grand Final audience since 2019.
“It was an excellent end to the season where we gave the A-Leagues a home across the Paramount playground giving new and diehard football fans the ability to watch key matches live and free on 10, 10 Bold, 10 Play and every game on Paramount+.
“This season saw strong growth in viewers for the finals and new audiences for the Liberty A-League with all women’s matches available on 10 Play, free for Australians to view,” said Adam.
The 2022-23 Liberty A-League and Isuzu UTE A-League season reached 6.08 million Australians. The season set new highs for digital viewing.
- Isuzu UTE A-League matches saw a 48% growth in minutes viewed on last season.
- Liberty A-League matches saw a 63% growth in minutes viewed on last season.
- Isuzu UTE A-League matches were #1 in their timeslot across the commercial multi-channels in 16 to 39s. The Finals series matches lifted 53% year-on-year.
Australian Professional Leagues CEO, Danny Townsend, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Australasian football, and as we reflect on the season that was, there is so much to celebrate. We had 44% more fans attend men’s game and 56% more fans went to women’s games, and attendance records were broken three times in the finals’ series.
“Having every single women’s game available live and free on 10 Play and doubling the number of men’s free-to-air matches meant that hundreds of thousands of fans were served up the best of the beautiful game this season. We thank Paramount ANZ for their partnership and vision for the growth of the game,” Danny said.
Paramount ANZ Football Presenter, Tara Rushton, said: “We’ve seen more goals than ever before, more teams, more players and more young-guns announce themselves onto the international stage across the Liberty A-League and Isuzu UTE A-League this season, and we were treated to one of the most entertaining seasons in A-Leagues’ history.
“Topped off with a history making Grand Final that will go down as one of the greatest nights in Australian football, the ‘team-that-could’, the Central Coast Mariners broke a 10-year drought to demolish the best team across the past four seasons Melbourne City. It was a Grand Final for the ages.”
Nick Bower, General Manager – Ad Sales, Paramount ANZ said: “At Paramount it’s simple–we love football, and the Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final proved a winner amongst audiences with fantastic year-on-year growth of 51% which our broadcast partners are thrilled with.
“It’s a sport that aligns with values that are important to our brand such as diversity, equity and inclusion and those values are also embraced by our partners.
“It talks directly to unique audiences that other mainstream sports don’t and it’s a sport that reaches the hard-to-find younger audiences,” added Nick.
Football fans stayed with Paramount+ on Saturday night to watch the Final in the world’s oldest and most prestigious knockout tournament, the Emirates FA Cup, where Manchester City defeated Manchester United in an encounter for the ages as City triumphed over their cross-town rivals 2-1.
And the football action continues Thursday 15 June, when fans can watch the Subway Socceroos take on 2022 FIFA World Cup winners, Argentina, live and free on 10, 10 Bold and 10 Play as well as Paramount+.
Plus, the stars of the future will be on show as the Subway Joeys compete in the Under 17s Asian Cup, streamed exclusively on 10 Play later this month.
Click here for more Paramount+ and A-league coverage on TV Blackbox.
