Interesting...
From SMH
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/hawks-fly-but-afl-ratings-slip-for-seven-fox-20200619-p554c2.html
AFL fans helped Seven to record AFL ratings last week but the thirst dissipated come Thursday night's clash between Richmond and Hawthorn, with the network enduring an average fall of more than 450,000 national viewers.
Seven revealed on Friday an average national audience of 824,000 had tuned in to the opening match of round three at the MCG, a major drop on last week's return to football after the COVID-19 hiatus
when the Thursday night draw between power clubs Collingwood and the Tigers enjoyed a record national average of 1.275 million for a prime-time match.
The metro ratings across Australia also slipped, from an average of 1.02 million last week to 624,000. However, Seven said this was still up 6 per cent compared to last year's average of its Thursday night coverage.
Seven also took heart from stellar ratings in Melbourne, where an average of 398,000 tuned in, up 15 per cent year on year and making it the most-watched show outside of its prime-time news bulletin in Melbourne on the night.
A week after signing a rights extension with the AFL until the end of 2024, Seven was also buoyed by the ratings in the two northern markets, particularly as the match did not involve any of the four teams from either NSW or Queensland.
Seven said it had enjoyed an average audience of 35,182 in Sydney, up 20 per cent year on year for a Thursday night clash, while Brisbane's average audience of 29,628 was 18 per cent higher than last year's metro average.
The Hawks' shock thumping of the Tigers secured a solid response at Foxtel, for it was the No.1 rating show of the pay-television operator with an average audience of 235,000, ahead of the NRL clash between the Newcastle Knights and Brisbane Broncos (220,000).
Seven had taken delight in its average metro audience of Thursday night thumping the NRL's free-to-air average of 326,000, broadcast on Nine, the owner of this masthead.
However, Fox Footy's audience had also dipped from last Thursday's audience of 342,000, which in turn had been slightly lower than the 351,000 of round one between Carlton and the Tigers which had been its best for the Thursday night opener. These figures do not include those for Fox Sports' streaming service, Kayo.
Foxtel and Seven West Media renegotiated revised contractual terms at a lower cost until the end of the current deal of 2022 because of the financial fall-out of the coronavirus pandemic but
Foxtel opted against inking a two-year extension because it wants some exclusivity on matches involving interstate teams in their home market.
