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2025 Streaming and TV Ratings Discussion

M

Mother Nature's Son

Juniors
Messages
1,341
Some interesting numbers revealed in today`s The Oz:

- Week two of the NRL finals had a combined average of 3.8 million viewers across New Zealand and Australia, up more than 34 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

- The Bulldogs and Panthers game attracted 2 million viewers across the Nine Network, Fox and Sky — and was also the most streamed finals game of all time.

- Across the two fixtures, viewership in Brisbane was up +24% year-on-year whilst Melbourne was up +95% YoY.

- NRL Finals Week 2 outperformed AFL Finals Week 2 by 14% across the two fixtures. This includes 16% outperformance of FTA and 6% outperformance on Fox.

Full article:

 
W

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
45,195
Mother Nature's Son said:
Some interesting numbers revealed in today`s The Oz:

- Week two of the NRL finals had a combined average of 3.8 million viewers across New Zealand and Australia, up more than 34 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

- The Bulldogs and Panthers game attracted 2 million viewers across the Nine Network, Fox and Sky — and was also the most streamed finals game of all time.

- Across the two fixtures, viewership in Brisbane was up +24% year-on-year whilst Melbourne was up +95% YoY.

- NRL Finals Week 2 outperformed AFL Finals Week 2 by 14% across the two fixtures. This includes 16% outperformance of FTA and 6% outperformance on Fox.

Full article:

Click to expand...
Does that mean nz got 1.6 million ? Doesn’t sound right as wookie had week 2 at 2.19 million
 
The_Wookie

The_Wookie

Bench
Messages
4,181

Record-breaking NRL finals viewership reinforces call for return to daytime grand final​

The NRL’s week two finals TV ratings crushed the AFL on the back of Sunday afternoon’s elimination semi-final, reinforcing calls for a return to a daytime grand final. Can the NRL ignore the numbers any longer?

September 22, 2025 - 5:37PM
https://www.couriermail.com.au/spor...ory/005302a22cdb9c97b7e53802c4778f8a#comments
Why epic final makes case for daytime GF


Fans of a daytime grand final have been given more ammunition after it emerged that Sunday afternoon’s NRL game between Penrith and the Bulldogs was the most watched week two finals game of all time.

This masthead can also reveal that the NRL significantly outperformed the AFL’s week two fixtures by a whopping 14 per cent across the two games in a boost to the NRL hierarchy as they attempt to secure the richest broadcasting deal in the game’s history.

Week two of the NRL finals had a combined average of 3.8 million viewers across New Zealand and Australia, up more than 34 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

The Bulldogs and Panthers game attracted 2 million viewers across the Nine Network, Fox and Sky — and was also the most streamed finals game of all time.

​

NRL FINALS RATINGS SNAPSHOT​

  • Week Two had combined average of 3.8m viewers across Australia and New Zealand, making it the most-watched Finals Week 2 in NRL history.
  • The Bulldogs vs Panthers was the most-watched Finals Week 2 game of all time, attracting 2.0m across Nine, Fox & Sky.
  • Across the two fixtures, viewership in Brisbane was up +24% year-on-year whilst Melbourne was up +95% YoY.
  • Attendance: 82k across the two games (+35.5% YoY), the highest-attended Finals Week 2 in the NRL era (i.e., since 1998), surpassing 2017 by 1.6%.
  • NRL Finals Week 2 outperformed AFL Finals Week 2 by 14% across the two fixtures. This includes 16% outperformance of FTA and 6% outperformance on Fox.


The Raiders game against the Sharks was the third most watched week two finals game of all time. However, the broadcasting results in the Bulldogs-Panthers game were the most significant given the match was played on Sunday afternoon as part of a revamped finals schedule.

There has been a long-standing push to return to the grand final to Sunday afternoon but the NRL has so far listened to the wishes of its broadcasters. The broadcasters may yet jump on board if the current results continue.
The NRL and broadcasters will get another gauge of the appetite for daytime footy this weekend when Brisbane host Penrith on Sunday afternoon at Suncorp Stadium in the grand final qualifier.

 
reanimate

reanimate

Bench
Messages
4,086
Mother Nature's Son said:
- Across the two fixtures, viewership in Brisbane was up +24% year-on-year whilst Melbourne was up +95% YoY.


Full article:

Click to expand...
Wow, nearly 100% growth out of Melbourne. That’s very impressive.

Melbourne will keep growing with the Storm investing in their junior pathways, plus disaffected Union fans and players will continue to migrate over.
 
N

NRLMad

Juniors
Messages
919
newc18 said:
Three clubs have won the premiership in the last eight years. There's clearly something wrong and if your answer is for the shit clubs to spend more money, then it's not going to get any better anytime soon. Obviously the Knights are a basket case of a club atm but I wasn't just talking about them.

In saying all that, this year was definitely an improvement over last year which was basically a two horse race for the majority of the season.


Both the NRL and AFL got awesome ratings, let’s just be happy with what we have. All these ratings don't mean shit if the NRL doesn't take advantage of it for the next broadcast rights deal.
Click to expand...
Halves have played a massive hand, the teams that have the best halves win. Lesser teams compete but just not as often.

Take Cleary out of Penrith, they don’t win as much. Same for Munster/hughes, same for Cronk/etc

How can the dragons with no proper halves expect to win the comp? If we had Cleary, we make the top4 - with an average dragons team all around him
 
newc18

newc18

Juniors
Messages
551
NRLMad said:
Halves have played a massive hand, the teams that have the best halves win. Lesser teams compete but just not as often.

Take Cleary out of Penrith, they don’t win as much. Same for Munster/hughes, same for Cronk/etc

How can the dragons with no proper halves expect to win the comp? If we had Cleary, we make the top4 - with an average dragons team all around him
Click to expand...
You definitely make a good argument. The halves shortage is why we overpaid for Brown.
 
B

Billythekid

First Grade
Messages
7,141
NRLMad said:
Halves have played a massive hand, the teams that have the best halves win. Lesser teams compete but just not as often.

Take Cleary out of Penrith, they don’t win as much. Same for Munster/hughes, same for Cronk/etc

How can the dragons with no proper halves expect to win the comp? If we had Cleary, we make the top4 - with an average dragons team all around him
Click to expand...
Take Cleary out of Penrith and their win rate barely drops actually (despite those weeks also missing multiple other stars as well). Cleary is good but that’s not why Penrith have been so dominant. Also this is wildly off topic.
The_Wookie said:

Record-breaking NRL finals viewership reinforces call for return to daytime grand final​

The NRL’s week two finals TV ratings crushed the AFL on the back of Sunday afternoon’s elimination semi-final, reinforcing calls for a return to a daytime grand final. Can the NRL ignore the numbers any longer?

September 22, 2025 - 5:37PM
https://www.couriermail.com.au/spor...ory/005302a22cdb9c97b7e53802c4778f8a#comments
Why epic final makes case for daytime GF


Fans of a daytime grand final have been given more ammunition after it emerged that Sunday afternoon’s NRL game between Penrith and the Bulldogs was the most watched week two finals game of all time.

This masthead can also reveal that the NRL significantly outperformed the AFL’s week two fixtures by a whopping 14 per cent across the two games in a boost to the NRL hierarchy as they attempt to secure the richest broadcasting deal in the game’s history.

Week two of the NRL finals had a combined average of 3.8 million viewers across New Zealand and Australia, up more than 34 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

The Bulldogs and Panthers game attracted 2 million viewers across the Nine Network, Fox and Sky — and was also the most streamed finals game of all time.

​

NRL FINALS RATINGS SNAPSHOT​

  • Week Two had combined average of 3.8m viewers across Australia and New Zealand, making it the most-watched Finals Week 2 in NRL history.
  • The Bulldogs vs Panthers was the most-watched Finals Week 2 game of all time, attracting 2.0m across Nine, Fox & Sky.
  • Across the two fixtures, viewership in Brisbane was up +24% year-on-year whilst Melbourne was up +95% YoY.
  • Attendance: 82k across the two games (+35.5% YoY), the highest-attended Finals Week 2 in the NRL era (i.e., since 1998), surpassing 2017 by 1.6%.
  • NRL Finals Week 2 outperformed AFL Finals Week 2 by 14% across the two fixtures. This includes 16% outperformance of FTA and 6% outperformance on Fox.


The Raiders game against the Sharks was the third most watched week two finals game of all time. However, the broadcasting results in the Bulldogs-Panthers game were the most significant given the match was played on Sunday afternoon as part of a revamped finals schedule.

There has been a long-standing push to return to the grand final to Sunday afternoon but the NRL has so far listened to the wishes of its broadcasters. The broadcasters may yet jump on board if the current results continue.
The NRL and broadcasters will get another gauge of the appetite for daytime footy this weekend when Brisbane host Penrith on Sunday afternoon at Suncorp Stadium in the grand final qualifier.

Click to expand...
Insane numbers all around. Just crazy the growth the NRL is seeing. I really hope these numbers see a renewed push for Sunday arvo footy and not just for the GF. I know the culture is totally different here but we should be pushing for a super Sunday kinda like what the NFL has.

A day of RL and BBQ is about as Aussie as it gets.
 
steeden.

steeden.

Juniors
Messages
937
Billythekid said:
I know the culture is totally different here but we should be pushing for a super Sunday kinda like what the NFL has.

A day of RL and BBQ is about as Aussie as it gets.
Click to expand...
Nine were flogging it as “sudden death Sunday” and I’m here for that.

the vibe attached to Sunday arvo games this finals series has been great. Belmore looked pumping and you can guarantee Caxton street will be full this weekend too. That definitely feeds into how big the ratings are when it’s suddenly a big “event” and not just a night in front of the tv
 
The_Wookie

The_Wookie

Bench
Messages
4,181
Saturdays #AFL Lions/Pies final drew a national average television audience of 903,000 across the platforms of Foxtel and Kayo - makes it the most-watched AFL match of all time on its platforms. (2.449m when added to Sevens audience).

Cats/Hawks clash attracted a national average audience of 822,000 across the platforms of Foxtel and Kayo - making it the fourth most-watched AFL game ever for the Foxtel Group. (2.124m when added to Seven)

Combined 7 and Fox aggregate for the prelims now 4.573m.

Foxtel averages up 17% in the finals YoY.

https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2025...smash-afl-streaming-records-in-prelim-finals/
 
N

NRLMad

Juniors
Messages
919
At the end of the day, we have younger fans and appeal to more ethnicities - AFL is for Anglo saxons predominantly. Just look at the crowd shots. All Anglos - Melbourne and Adelaide just doesn’t stack up to Sydney and Brisbane. Forget the teams that are coming in to add.

Our teams are backed by everyone. Melbourne has 10m potential fans.

The largest growth pocket is Western Sydney, and there are thousands upon thousands of kids being born out there that are clearly devotees of the future. Remember when we won 4-5 in a row. We were the best… lalala - they will boom, with parra. Need souths back at SFS - boom again, dragons need a leg up to pull the Asian markets in.

The game is exciting, anyone can beat anyone, dragons beat Penrith this year & then lost to anyone shit.
 
B

Billythekid

First Grade
Messages
7,141
It’s so weird reading these negative posts about the AFL directly after the ratings announced which are really impressive. Bizarre the way some of you view the world.

IMO the actual interesting takeaway here is just how astoundingly high both the NRL and AFL are rating across fox and kayo which shows more than ever just how much there is at stake should they lose the rights. Almost a million viewers is absolute crazy.

I know everyone likes to bang on about the lack of competition but there is a lot on the line here, if nine/stan (or someone else) got the rights in totality it could have huge ramifications on subscriber numbers.
 
W

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
45,195
newc18 said:
Hopefully until Sunday.
Click to expand...
When the fox numbers get released at the end of the year nrl will still have smashed afl

The gap between the two on Fox is massive

The problem for them now is since their overall ratings growth has stagnated tv networks want more

The last deal they had to give Fox a lot more exclusive coverage which has seen free to air ratings flatline whilst pay tv has risen

In comparison nrl has seen a huge rise in free to air viewers which look like its new viewers to the sport

League will finish the season at least 30 million viewers ahead of afl

With the two new teams that gap will grow to around 60 to 70 million viewers
 
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