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The AFL and NRL will dominate for a long time yet

By Chris Lewis - posted Tuesday, 18 May 2021


Super Rugby crowds, with far fewer matches in the 2021 ten round season, have fared reasonably well at 10,000 during 2021 compared to 11,000 in 2019.

However, the A-League has clearly performed worst with 2020-21 crowds averaging around 5,500 compared to the 2018-19 average of 10,864.

If one looks at the television ratings for Saturday (8 May 2021), it is obvious how far football has fallen behind the other codes - despite 44,000 viewers watching the A-League game between the Newcastle Jets and Sydney on the ABC.

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In contrast, Channel Seven attracted 559,000 to watch the AFL night match between Melbourne and Sydney, and also had a Saturday afternoon audience of 62,000 in metropolitan Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide despite those three cities not having a team play that afternoon.

On Foxtel, the A-League audience was a dismal 5,000 for Newcastle versus Sydney, and 12,000 for the Sydney derby between Western Sydney and Western United.

Foxtel’s NRL coverage, however, attracted viewers 264,000 to the Cowboys versus Broncos, 228,000 to Tigers versus Titans, and 179,000 for the Raiders and Knights clash.

The AFL on Foxtel attracted 757,000 viewers for its five AFL matches that day (Metro 559,000 and Regional 198,000).

In the case of Super Rugby, though 207,000 watched the Queensland Reds defeat the ACT Brumbies in the grand final on Channel Nine on 8 May 2021, its ratings for the season were more on a par with the A-League than the AFL and NRL.

While Stan has not yet released any audience numbers for its Super Rugby coverage, ratings for the weekly free-to-air match screened on 9Gem fell sharply throughout the 10-week regular season from 121,000 (five-city metropolitan market) for the February 19 game between the Queensland Reds and the NSW Waratahs to 52,000 by Round 10.

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It remains to be seen just how much broadcasting revenue each football code will attract in future years given the importance of crowd numbers and viewers which helps broadcasters estimate the ability of any deal in terms of attracting advertising dollars.

Football Australia, while still clinging to a belief that it can become a bigger player amongst Australia’s football leagues, expresses optimism that a deal will emerge in the coming weeks given interest from across the globe in the A-League from many bidders driven by a thirst for content.

It is perhaps this thirst for content by new players to get their foot in the door, which could include interest from Stan, Optus, Amazon Prime, DAZN, Hulu, and fuboTV, that provides the main reason why the A-League may get reasonable broadcasting revenue.

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About the Author

Chris Lewis, who completed a First Class Honours degree and PhD (Commonwealth scholarship) at Monash University, has an interest in all economic, social and environmental issues, but believes that the struggle for the ‘right’ policy mix remains an elusive goal in such a complex and competitive world.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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