2018 AFL Crowds & Ratings thread

[Our Game]

If you think it's a worry, then you're completely ignorant of the context. The test will be packed.

- 24,000 is still a pretty significant crowd (greater than the capacity of the WACA)
- The early season opening ODI's have never been popular with the Australian public
- If you haven't been living under a rock there has been huge turmoil at Cricket Australia of late
- In an on-field sense, the build up coming off a horrendous tour in the UAE is far from ideal

Yep just a lazy 42,000 for the girls game. Just saying!

"The first AFLW Australian rules football match at the venue Fremantle against Collingwood on 10 February 2018, and the attendance of 41,975 was the highest stand-alone figure in domestic women's sport"

The "turmoil" at CA HQ has very little to do with crowds.

The s**t Australian team is the problem at the moment its the problem that will effect crowds all around the nation. Fans dont like paying good money to see rubbish.

The Aussies could be in for a nice hiding from the Indians as well if they dont start to improve soon.

 

[BobbyMorri]

If you think it's a worry, then you're completely ignorant of the context. The test will be packed.

- 24,000 is still a pretty significant crowd (greater than the capacity of the WACA)
- The early season opening ODI's have never been popular with the Australian public
- If you haven't been living under a rock there has been huge turmoil at Cricket Australia of late
- In an on-field sense, the build up coming off a horrendous tour in the UAE is far from ideal

Also, ODI are dying compared to franchise T20 cricket. C

The Scorchers should just about out average the ODI easy and perhaps even the test. Despite the season length pushing its limits.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Yep just a lazy 42,000 for the girls game. Just saying!

"The first AFLW Australian rules football match at the venue Fremantle against Collingwood on 10 February 2018, and the attendance of 41,975 was the highest stand-alone figure in domestic women's sport"

The "turmoil" at CA HQ has very little to do with crowds.

The girls game was the second(?) game of the new stadium plus really cheap tickets. So, not the fairest of comparisons.

And the turmoil at CA HQ has a lot to do with crowds and general unhappiness of the national team atm. It is this turmoil which evolved into the sandpaper incident in South Africa and that incident has put a lot of people offside. The heat on CA is because of the Incident and why CA are in a huge fight with itself atm.

I don't think you can underplay how badly that was to cricket/sport in this country. Nothing in the country comes close to cricket and the way it can generate national discussion.

 

[McCrann]

The survey is of adults 18+.
So a big chunk of the extra is kids.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

Almost correct - the survey is of Australians 14+ - of which there are now an estimated 20.5 million or so. 12 or so months ago that was about 19.5 million.

The other 4-5 million are kids. Correct. Aged under 14 - and who generally don't do many surveys.

 

[McCrann]

Also, breakdown by state, each state adds up to 100, but it doesn't include NT or ACT, so not sure if they surveyed those markets.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

They were surveyed but the sample sizes are too small to report separately. Tasmania is borderline as well - but well known as an AFL State. And - a State.

 

[Gigantor]

Just remembered to check the Thursday night ratings figure for the draft:

1. LIVE: AFL DRAFT FOX FOOTY, 104,000

Friday's didn't make the top 20.

Will probably vindicate the AFL's decision to spread it over two days.

 

[Our Game]

Just remembered to check the Thursday night ratings figure for the draft:

1. LIVE: AFL DRAFT FOX FOOTY, 104,000

Friday's didn't make the top 20.

Will probably vindicate the AFL's decision to spread it over two days.

The AFL and Fox would be happy with those figures in the off season.

 

[Gigantor]

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...-tv-under-four-year-deal-20181213-p50lz4.html

All AFLW games live on TV under four-year-deal

Every AFLW game will be broadcast live, with all finals televised on both free to air and Foxtel, under the new broadcast deal struck for women's football.

Under the four-year deal, Fox Footy/Foxtel will televise all games, with Channel Seven broadcasting two home-and-away matches per round, likely to be on Saturdays and Sundays in 2019. Industry sources believe the deal is worth close to $2.5 million a season.

 

[telsor]

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...-tv-under-four-year-deal-20181213-p50lz4.html

All AFLW games live on TV under four-year-deal

Every AFLW game will be broadcast live, with all finals televised on both free to air and Foxtel, under the new broadcast deal struck for women's football.

Under the four-year deal, Fox Footy/Foxtel will televise all games, with Channel Seven broadcasting two home-and-away matches per round, likely to be on Saturdays and Sundays in 2019. Industry sources believe the deal is worth close to $2.5 million a season.

AFL website says it's 'around $2M'

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-12-13/aflw-every-match-in-next-four-years-to-be-live-on-tv

 

[Gigantor]

AFL website says it's 'around $2M'

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-12-13/aflw-every-match-in-next-four-years-to-be-live-on-tv

You'd expect the AFL site to get it right. This is what Jake Niall wrote to a direct question on twitter:

Jake Niall
@JakeNiallTHEAGE
New
@AFL
broadcast deal for AFLW is worth about $2.5m x 4 years from Foxtel & Seven. All games on Fox, 2 per round on Seven next year, finals on both free to air & pay.


Maybe "about" puts it at $2.25 mill? Maybe there's some contra thrown in?
Although it's strange that the AFL would show the lower amount rather than pumping it up - maybe they don't want to pump it up?

 

[Our Game]

18,500 at Geelong v Pies is pretty good for the AFLW opening match of 2019.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

18,500 at Geelong v Pies is pretty good for the AFLW opening match of 2019.

I didn't even realise AFLW had started.

 

[Our Game]

Not a bad effort could have been better it they were not paying the top brass $10.2 million in wages.

Record crowds boost AFL profit
Chief executive of the AFL Gillon McLachlan.

• GREG DENHAM
  SENIOR SPORTS WRITER
  
  
• 12:00AM
• 
  
• MARCH 6, 2019

The AFL’s best attended season on record last year has translated into another financial windfall for the competition.

The league’s profit of $50.4 million in the second year of its six-year broadcast rights deal was below the record $60.3m operating surplus in 2017, which was boosted substantially by the increased book value of Marvel Stadium, bought by the AFL at the end of 2016.
Last year’s MCG grand final crowd of 100,022 — the best attended grand final since 1986, when 101,861 watched Hawthorn defeat Carlton — lifted the annual attendance figure to 7,595,153. That topped the previous record set in 2017 across all 207 games by 308,734.

Last year’s overall record attendance figure included a new benchmark 2018 home-and-away season high of 6,894,770, and a nine-game finals record of 700,383.
The previous record for a nine-game finals series of 614,783 was established in 2011, when seven finals were played at the MCG, one more than last season
Almost three million fans clicked through the turnstiles in games at the MCG in 2018, the venue’s most popular year since 2011. Australia’s biggest sporting ground attracted an average AFL attendance last year of 57,949.

The boom in attendances was largely attributed to the continued form of minor premiers Richmond, the improved performances of Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn, and the extra capacity of Perth’s new home ground Optus Stadium, which holds almost 20,000 more than Subiaco Oval.
West Coast’s two Perth finals last year attracted capacity crowds of almost 60,000.
The AFL also recorded more than one million members for the first time in 2018.
Some of the key financial highlights under the fourth full year of AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan included:
• Revenue increased by $17.4m to $668m, due to the broadcast rights deal and a successful 2018 finals series.
• Operating expenditure increased by $10.3m to $203.3m, due to revenue-related increases and investment in strategic priorities including northern markets, AFLW and female participation.
• The operating surplus before grants and distributions increased by 2 per cent to $467.7m.
• The AFL provided grants and distributions of $417.3m in 2018, which included $307.2m to the 18 clubs; $46.9m of primarily state-based game development grants; $36.6m to the AFL Players’ Association; $25.3m to infrastructure comprising elite and community facilities, and contributions to stadiums redevelopments and $1.2m to corporate and social responsibility initiatives.
AFL chief financial officer Travis Auld said: “The increases in expenditure in 2018 included revenue-related increases, additional marketing investment in NSW and Queensland and increased investment in AFLW, female participation and community football expenditure.”
Last week the NRL announced a standardised net profit of $46m in 2018 from a record revenue of $499.9m, following a $3.7m loss the previous year.

The AFL’s only net loss since 2011 was in 2016, when it announced a shortfall in line with its forecast of $17.8m, which was largely due to an increase in expenditure of almost $19m for revenue-related increases and costs associated with the purchase of Marvel Stadium and the launch of AFLW.

 

[The_Wookie]

Australian Football League

• 2018 Broadcast Revenue: $391,323,000 (plus $16,000,000 in contra)
• Broadcasters: Seven Network, Foxtel
• Streaming: Foxtel Now
• Mobile: Telstra
• Broadcast rights information

Television

According to the 2018 AFL Annual Report, the average gross national audience across free-to-air and subscription television per home and away round was 3.882 million, compared with 4.449 million in 2017 (a decrease
of 12.7 per cent).

The cumulative gross national audience during the home and away season exceeded 89 million (89,348,093), which was down on the 102.3 million (102,337,684) in 2017. The 89 million viewers comprised 52.71 million viewers on free-to-air and 36.63 million viewers on subscription television. The AFL noted early season scheduling challenges, as well as emerging digital platforms as possible reasons for the downturn.

Friday night matches during the 2018 AFL Premiership Season attracted a national average audience of 958,432 across free-to-air and subscription television, down on the 2017 average of 1,143,699. The seven Thursday night matches attracted a national average audience of 987,127 across free-to-air and subscription television which exceeded the average audience for Friday night matches.

Fairfax noted that the 2018 match average was 307,793 for the AFL (down 13 per cent on 2017), acknowledging that the AFL has cross-over timeslots and doesn’t go free to air with the same games nationally. The average Foxtel audience was 184,821 for the AFL (down 7 per cent on 2017).

The Swans have the AFL’s highest TV audience, with 14.3m viewers over the premiership season.

The 10 most-watched matches of the 2018 AFL Home and Away Season (national average audiences across free-to-air and subscription television) were:

• 1. Round 5 – Collingwood v Essendon – 1.259 million (Anzac Day)
• 2. Round 1 – Richmond v Carlton – 1.178 million
• 3. Round 20 – Richmond v Geelong Cats –1.167 million
• 4. Round 19 – Essendon v Sydney Swans –1.127 million
• 5. Round 13 – Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles – 1.111 million
• 6. Round 1 – Essendon v Adelaide Crows – 1.088 million
• 7. Round 8 – Hawthorn v Sydney Swans – 1.084 million
• 8. Round 15 – Richmond v Sydney Swans –1.079 million
• 9. Round 5 – Sydney Swans v Adelaide Crows – 1.073 million
• 10. Round 12 – Melbourne v Collingwood – 1.071 million (Queen’s Birthday)

The gross cumulative audience for the 2018 AFL Finals Series was 16,528,256. This marks a decrease of 2.2 per cent on the total national viewership for the 2017 AFL Finals Series (16,904,687)

Foxfooty attracted a national average audience of 551,661 for the preliminary final between Richmond and Collingwood, which made it the second-highest rating AFL match of all time on its platform, behind only the 555,014 for the preliminary fnal between Richmond and GWS Giants in 2017

The 2018 AFL Grand Final national average audience (metropolitan and regional) of 3.39 million (3,386,253) on the Seven Network was fve per cent down on the 3.56 million who tuned into the 2017 Grand Final between the Adelaide Crows and Richmond. The combined five mainland capital city metropolitan audience of 2,609,707 viewers for the 2018 AFL Grand Final made it the most-watched program on metropolitan free-to-air television in 2018.

The Seven Network also exclusively broadcast the Brownlow Medal live and attracted a national average audience (metropolitan and regional) of 1,141,414.

Streaming

According to the 2018 Annual Report, streaming of live matches through the AFL Live app grew by 13 per cent to more than 450 million minutes compared with 2017. The League reported more than 1.6 million Live Pass Subscribers.

This is the equivalent of 7.5 million hours, or 2.5 million full matches, and works out to about 12,000 viewers per full match.

 

[Seedsfan]

We should look to have Friday night double headers. As we want to have less games going head to head with each other so we can maximise revenue from each game.

I know people will say it will be to late and all but we need to use the different time zones to get around that.

Perth clubs feel they don’t get enough Friday night footy, we should give them more Friday night footy. Have a game that starts 7:10 aest and a game that starts 7:50 Perth time.

 

[Gigantor]

We should look to have Friday night double headers. As we want to have less games going head to head with each other so we can maximise revenue from each game.

I know people will say it will be to late and all but we need to use the different time zones to get around that.

Perth clubs feel they don’t get enough Friday night footy, we should give them more Friday night footy. Have a game that starts 7:10 aest and a game that starts 7:50 Perth time.

I think a mixture of one Friday night double header, and one Thursday night game, alternating each week, would be a good outcome.

 

[Seedsfan]

I think a mixture of one Friday night double header, and one Thursday night game, alternating each week, would be a good outcome.

We need to do something to stop so many games going head to head as last year for the first time in over 10 years the NRL became the most viewed league in the country and that was down to being year one year into a new TV right deal where fox brought the rights to all there games and then sold them on to 9.

Fox taking control of the televising of the game meant that for the first time no two games ever went head to head. Maximising viewing numbers and revenue

 

[Underarm]

Perth clubs feel they don’t get enough Friday night footy, we should give them more Friday night footy. Have a game that starts 7:10 aest and a game that starts 7:50 Perth time.

Tv ratings crater after 9:30 on the east coast/SA timezones where 90% of the population live. A 2nd Friday match would be an awful idea.

 

[Seedsfan]

Tv ratings crater after 9:30 on the east coast/SA timezones where 90% of the population live. A 2nd Friday match would be an awful idea.

Only one would ever be FTA the other would be on Fox. Better off avoiding games going head to head with each other. Friday night double headers work well for the NRL and Super Rugby

 

[Billy ray]

Tv ratings crater after 9:30 on the east coast/SA timezones where 90% of the population live. A 2nd Friday match would be an awful idea.

What if it was the two west coast v fremantle games? They are only on fox nationally so moving a sat night fox only to a Friday night fox only would only be a good thing as sat night head to head game drops off.

Could also do a west coast/freo v Adelaide/port game which again are only ever fox nationally games

 

[Ishikawa]

We should look to have Friday night double headers. As we want to have less games going head to head with each other so we can maximise revenue from each game.

I know people will say it will be to late and all but we need to use the different time zones to get around that.

Perth clubs feel they don’t get enough Friday night footy, we should give them more Friday night footy. Have a game that starts 7:10 aest and a game that starts 7:50 Perth time.

Best opportunities to do that are in the first week or two in the season when it's a three hour time difference.

 

[TigerTime_89]

We do have a 2019 Crowds thread.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

What if it was the two west coast v fremantle games? They are only on fox nationally so moving a sat night fox only to a Friday night fox only would only be a good thing as sat night head to head game drops off.

Could also do a west coast/freo v Adelaide/port game which again are only ever fox nationally games

It's a disgrace that east coast audiences don't see the Derbies or Showdowns.

 

[NoobPie]

It's a disgrace that east coast audiences don't see the Derbies or Showdowns.

Well disgrace is a strong term but certainly those games should have a national profile on FTA tv.

Lack of imagination at channel 7 / AFL or both

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

Well disgrace is a strong term but certainly those games should have a national profile on FTA tv.

Lack of imagination at channel 7 / AFL or both

Just those couple of marquee games a year on FTA would do a hell of a lot for promoting the national competition as a comp in its own right instead of the Vic-centric thing it's portrayed as. Where did it all go wrong? Years ago Derbies and Showdowns were broadcast on C7 in Melbourne all the time. So much wrong with the broadcasting schedule these days.