2018 AFL Crowds & Ratings thread

[JayJ20]

MCC expecting 86K for Essendon vs Richmond. That would beat the all time record for a Saturday night game, set in last year's dreamtime game.

 

[dave10]

MCC expecting 86K for Essendon vs Richmond. That would beat the all time record for a Saturday night game, set in last year's dreamtime game.

I think that’s overly optimistic. I think there’s quite a bit of GA available on the night with many sections in the Ponsford and Southern stands not sold as yet. I assume they’ve just taken last years attendance against obvious good pre sales at this stage.

Last year a large walk up on the night spilled into the AFL members. Unless this is repeated it’s hard to imaging eclipsing the crowd from last year.

I still feel like 83-84K is about right. A great crowd still!

 

[Rezza Tiger]

I think that’s overly optimistic. I think there’s quite a bit of GA available on the night with many sections in the Ponsford and Southern stands not sold as yet. I assume they’ve just taken last years attendance against obvious good pre sales at this stage.

Last year a large walk up on the night spilled into the AFL members. Unless this is repeated it’s hard to imaging eclipsing the crowd from last year.

I still feel like 83-84K is about right. A great crowd still!

I'm not sure if they are holding back any GA for this game. It has allocation exhausted atm.



As far as reserved seating goes I wanted to sit on level 1 Ponsford but that is all sold out - could only get top deck. Everywhere else is single seats only.

 

[manicmagpie]

I'm not sure if they are holding back any GA for this game. It has allocation exhausted atm.

View attachment 503648

As far as reserved seating goes I wanted to sit on level 1 Ponsford but that is all sold out - could only get top deck. Everywhere else is single seats only.

Feels like a while since we had a genuinely big crowd (I was disappointed with the Coll/Rich game). Hopefully this week will live up to the prediction and the week after we can get the first 80k modern day QB clash as well.

 

[dave10]

I'm not sure if they are holding back any GA for this game. It has allocation exhausted atm.

View attachment 503648

As far as reserved seating goes I wanted to sit on level 1 Ponsford but that is all sold out - could only get top deck. Everywhere else is single seats only.

There will be 5 bays on level 4 GSS and 3 bays (from halfway back) in Ponsford. Not selling standing or restricted view seats yet either. There will be 3-4,000 GA on the night plus extras last year that filled the AFL members. 86K feels a stretch as a crowd this large usually basically requires public and AFL sections as well as standing room to be completely sold out (Eg: ANZAC Day).

 

[Rezza Tiger]

There will be 5 bays on level 4 GSS and 3 bays (from halfway back) in Ponsford. Not selling standing or restricted view seats yet either. There will be 3-4,000 GA on the night plus extras last year that filled the AFL members. 86K feels a stretch as a crowd this large usually basically requires public and AFL sections as well as standing room to be completely sold out (Eg: ANZAC Day).

What's the deal with Essendon members with reserved seats? What sections do they normally get at the G? AFL members should be pretty full Essendon have the second most behind Collingwood I believe and Richmond have been populating it pretty well the last couple of years. Saturday night game will help too. MCC will be 2/3 to 3/4 full which should bring it to high 80s.

 

[Kwality]

almost 28,000 doesnt scream lack of demand to anyone with a mite of common sense. Only in the AFL is 28,000 cited as a poor crowd.

Indeed BUT .... you know !! All those members ...

 

[Our Game]

The AFL would have to be worried if these figures are correct

NRL on course for TV ratings victory over AFL
Send via Email
At the halfway mark of the season, the NRL is set to eclipse the AFL as the most watched football code on TV in 2018. If current trends continue, the NRL will have a higher premiership season audience than the AFL for the first time since 2011.

The Oztam ratings relate only to club games in both codes and, with State of Origin matches always represented in the top five most watched programs on TV, rugby league is headed for a historic season.
Compared to 2017, AFL TV ratings are falling even faster ... down 13.9 percent to the end of round 9, while the NRL season, which began two weeks earlier, has recorded a drop of only 0.6 percent to the end of round 11.

Significantly, comparing TV time slots where NRL games are shown, with programs on other networks, the overall national TV market is down 4.7 percent, meaning NRL is holding its ground.

The cumulative live audience for NRL games in Australia has been 43.0 million for the first 11 Rounds, compared to 43.3m last year. The AFL’s cumulative live audience is 36.9m for its first 9 rounds, compared to 42.9m last year.

The average free-to-air Audience for the NRL is 612,689 in 2018, compared to 317,003 for the AFL. The AFL will say that it has cross-over timeslots and doesn’t go free to air with the same games nationally, but the raw numbers show that NRL is dominant.

The average subscription TV audience (Foxtel) for the NRL is 244,853 in 2018, compared to 180,387 for the AFL.

The TV data confirms what State of Origin has demonstrated this past decade – Queensland is a rugby league state.

The Broncos are the highest-watched team across the NRL and AFL nationally (744,103 average free-to-air and 274,619 average subscription), while the North Queensland Cowboys rate third for free-to-air (722,922 average) and fourth for subscription TV (258,826 average).

This is despite the Broncos' erratic form and the Cowboys' lowly position on the premiership ladder.

The two lowest-watched teams nationally (across both AFL and NRL) are the AFL’s two Queensland teams, the Gold Coast Suns (93,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average) and Brisbane Lions (95,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average). They are the least popular of 34 teams across both codes.

The average Queensland-wide audience of the Broncos (325,494 per game) and Cowboys (311,321 per game) is nearly 10 times the size of the Queensland-wide audience of the Brisbane Lions (40,778 per game) or the Gold Coast Suns (34,365 per game)



Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

 

[Billy ray]

well, nearly all Friday night primetime games of nrl involve broncos whereas lions haven't had a fri night game in years and suns never in their existence

 

[dave10]

What's the deal with Essendon members with reserved seats? What sections do they normally get at the G? AFL members should be pretty full Essendon have the second most behind Collingwood I believe and Richmond have been populating it pretty well the last couple of years. Saturday night game will help too. MCC will be 2/3 to 3/4 full which should bring it to high 80s.

As you can see, a large portion of the Southern and Olympic Stands are Essendon reserved areas. Usually around 60% are used on the night is my recollection hence why we never see those huge crowds these days (except ANZAC Day)

 

[Rabman]

The AFL would have to be worried if these figures are correct

NRL on course for TV ratings victory over AFL
Send via Email
At the halfway mark of the season, the NRL is set to eclipse the AFL as the most watched football code on TV in 2018. If current trends continue, the NRL will have a higher premiership season audience than the AFL for the first time since 2011.

The Oztam ratings relate only to club games in both codes and, with State of Origin matches always represented in the top five most watched programs on TV, rugby league is headed for a historic season.
Compared to 2017, AFL TV ratings are falling even faster ... down 13.9 percent to the end of round 9, while the NRL season, which began two weeks earlier, has recorded a drop of only 0.6 percent to the end of round 11.

Significantly, comparing TV time slots where NRL games are shown, with programs on other networks, the overall national TV market is down 4.7 percent, meaning NRL is holding its ground.

The cumulative live audience for NRL games in Australia has been 43.0 million for the first 11 Rounds, compared to 43.3m last year. The AFL’s cumulative live audience is 36.9m for its first 9 rounds, compared to 42.9m last year.

The average free-to-air Audience for the NRL is 612,689 in 2018, compared to 317,003 for the AFL. The AFL will say that it has cross-over timeslots and doesn’t go free to air with the same games nationally, but the raw numbers show that NRL is dominant.

The average subscription TV audience (Foxtel) for the NRL is 244,853 in 2018, compared to 180,387 for the AFL.

The TV data confirms what State of Origin has demonstrated this past decade – Queensland is a rugby league state.

The Broncos are the highest-watched team across the NRL and AFL nationally (744,103 average free-to-air and 274,619 average subscription), while the North Queensland Cowboys rate third for free-to-air (722,922 average) and fourth for subscription TV (258,826 average).

This is despite the Broncos' erratic form and the Cowboys' lowly position on the premiership ladder.

The two lowest-watched teams nationally (across both AFL and NRL) are the AFL’s two Queensland teams, the Gold Coast Suns (93,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average) and Brisbane Lions (95,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average). They are the least popular of 34 teams across both codes.

The average Queensland-wide audience of the Broncos (325,494 per game) and Cowboys (311,321 per game) is nearly 10 times the size of the Queensland-wide audience of the Brisbane Lions (40,778 per game) or the Gold Coast Suns (34,365 per game)



Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Well there paying the price with there pathetic scheduling this year, clubs like the bulldogs and Carlton being handed prime time games when they both finished well down the ladder last year, just ridiculous.

 

[Righteo]

No way would we have got 37k at Subi in the same circumstances. Maybe 30k given the crappy weather and ordinary form.

Almost certainly would have been sub-30k. Not sure why we're held to a different standard than others, 37k is a damn good crowd for a team that's been shit for 3 years. Meanwhile Hawthorn get 28k against a well-supported WC, have 3 recent flags and more members and it's "impressive".

 

[Rezza Tiger]

View attachment 503737
As you can see, a large portion of the Southern and Olympic Stands are Essendon reserved areas. Usually around 60% are used on the night is my recollection hence why we never see those huge crowds these days (except ANZAC Day)

That's a bit too much red(and black) for my liking - us tiger fans will probably be huddled together into a just few bays of the ponsford

 

[JayJ20]

The AFL would have to be worried if these figures are correct

NRL on course for TV ratings victory over AFL
Send via Email
At the halfway mark of the season, the NRL is set to eclipse the AFL as the most watched football code on TV in 2018. If current trends continue, the NRL will have a higher premiership season audience than the AFL for the first time since 2011.

The Oztam ratings relate only to club games in both codes and, with State of Origin matches always represented in the top five most watched programs on TV, rugby league is headed for a historic season.
Compared to 2017, AFL TV ratings are falling even faster ... down 13.9 percent to the end of round 9, while the NRL season, which began two weeks earlier, has recorded a drop of only 0.6 percent to the end of round 11.

Significantly, comparing TV time slots where NRL games are shown, with programs on other networks, the overall national TV market is down 4.7 percent, meaning NRL is holding its ground.

The cumulative live audience for NRL games in Australia has been 43.0 million for the first 11 Rounds, compared to 43.3m last year. The AFL’s cumulative live audience is 36.9m for its first 9 rounds, compared to 42.9m last year.

The average free-to-air Audience for the NRL is 612,689 in 2018, compared to 317,003 for the AFL. The AFL will say that it has cross-over timeslots and doesn’t go free to air with the same games nationally, but the raw numbers show that NRL is dominant.

The average subscription TV audience (Foxtel) for the NRL is 244,853 in 2018, compared to 180,387 for the AFL.

The TV data confirms what State of Origin has demonstrated this past decade – Queensland is a rugby league state.

The Broncos are the highest-watched team across the NRL and AFL nationally (744,103 average free-to-air and 274,619 average subscription), while the North Queensland Cowboys rate third for free-to-air (722,922 average) and fourth for subscription TV (258,826 average).

This is despite the Broncos' erratic form and the Cowboys' lowly position on the premiership ladder.

The two lowest-watched teams nationally (across both AFL and NRL) are the AFL’s two Queensland teams, the Gold Coast Suns (93,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average) and Brisbane Lions (95,510 FTA average and 97,765 subscription average). They are the least popular of 34 teams across both codes.

The average Queensland-wide audience of the Broncos (325,494 per game) and Cowboys (311,321 per game) is nearly 10 times the size of the Queensland-wide audience of the Brisbane Lions (40,778 per game) or the Gold Coast Suns (34,365 per game)



Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Well of course.

Who is going to watch Sydney vs Carlton this Friday night? Funnily enough, Carlton still have one more Friday night... against St Kilda!!! When was Carlton vs St Kilda a match to be desired?

Bulldogs, St Kilda and Carlton have a fair few prime time games while Melbourne has next to nothing. Everyone could have seen that Melbourne would be the better side

 

[____]

Channel 7 having the rights to AFL has been the worst thing to happen to the AFL in Queensland. Even Lions afternoon games get put on 7mate. Channel 9 put netball on the main channel. Channel 10 when they had AFL rights would show non-Lions sat night games live in Qld. Obviously both Qld teams being shit doesn't help but the Lions were at least relevant between 2005-2011

 

[Billy ray]

Channel 7 having the rights to AFL has been the worst thing to happen to the AFL in Queensland. Even Lions afternoon games get put on 7mate. Channel 9 put netball on the main channel. Channel 10 when they had AFL rights would show non-Lions sat night games live in Qld. Obviously both Qld teams being shit doesn't help but the Lions were at least relevant between 2005-2011

I think i have posted this elsewhere but another issue is the gold coast has 600k people but just across the border are another 200k who are within an hour or so of metricon stadium. But the gws and Sydney games are shown on free to air here as it is ‘nsw’. The suns do quite a bit of work in this area but they are not shown on tv. Major fail by afl

 

[____]

I think i have posted this elsewhere but another issue is the gold coast has 600k people but just across the border are another 200k who are within an hour or so of metricon stadium. But the gws and Sydney games are shown on free to air here as it is ‘nsw’. The suns do quite a bit of work in this area but they are not shown on tv. Major fail by afl

Even more bizarre thing is Northern Rivers is part of the Suns academy (Evans Head and North of that). In that part of the world I'd have Suns as the FTA team (with Swans/Giants second choice)

 

[Billy ray]

Even more bizarre thing is Northern Rivers is part of the Suns academy (Evans Head and North of that). In that part of the world I'd have Suns as the FTA team (with Swans/Giants second choice)

AFL and broadcast partner have dropped the ball on this issue.

 

[____]

It's worth noting AFL overlaps and NRL doesn't (all NRL games are on 502). Meaning any league fan with Foxtel would be watching 502. As much of a basketcase we are I find it hard to believe we are less popular than the Raiders or even the Titans. Also find it hard to believe we're less popular than the Giants, but again the Giants have already had two nationally FTA televised games this year so that would boost their figure

 

[____]

Having said all this as a multi-code fan I been watching more neutral NRL than neutral AFL lately. Obviously NRL is only footy on Thursday night so I'll tune in. I have a mate's Foxtel go password and finish work at 3ish so I'll watch the 6pm Friday NRL game on the phone before deciding which code I wanna watch on FTA for the later game. On last Sunday the AFL FTA game (Crows v Demons) was getting one sides so switched over to NRL and saw it was a close game.

 

[HowYouDoin]

**** channel 7. This all their fault, tbh.

 

[____]

AFL would be smart (even if it means accepting less money from Foxtel and pissing Channel 7 off) to get rid of the 4.40pm Fox exclusive Sunday game and replacing it with a 6.05pm Sunday game simulcast on Fox Footy and Channel 10 (who desperately need sporting content). I imagine if Channel 10 had the rights it would be on the main channel across Australia (and worst case scenario on one in NSW if Swans/Giants aren't playing). If would be straight after the one hour 5pm News on the eastern seaboard, I imagine 10 would show a half hour news bulletin in SA/NT and at half-time in WA. Obviously you'd have most of those games in WA where it would be less of a crowd killer. But also have Lions and Suns home and away games would help our clubs get exposure in our own states. Even from a selfish point of view it would annoy me not being to go to as many interstate games.

 

[Rob]

The Masters article is true and it isn't. It depends on how you use stats to fit your narrative.

FTA averages don't mean a lot when you compare the AFL to the NRL, because the few NRL games that are on FTA are broadcast in all markets, whereas most AFL games that are on FTA are not. For instance, the 5 capitals might have 1 NRL game that rates 300k but 3 AFL games that rate 500k combined. Masters figures would suggest the NRL is outrating the AFL, as they average 300k compared to the AFL's 166k. Obviously completely disingenous.

On Friday nights, where the most like for like comparison can be made, the AFL generally flogs the NRL. Higher FTA and Fox numbers, despite it going to an hour longer than an NRL game. On Saturdays and Sundays, most AFL games are up against another game. So the audience is split, whereas NRL games are generally exclusive to that timeslot.

In saying all of that, AFL numbers appear to be down on Fox, just from my observation though.

 

[____]

Another thing worth doing for the AFL is getting rid of the draft completely, have complete free agency for anyone off contract and ensure the salary cap is strictly enforced (go hard with punishments at any team caught cheating it), the NRL for all things it ****s up knows how to create an even competition. The NRL is a genuinely level playing field where the Storm produces stuff all Victorian talent yet can still compete as any player they sign are happy to be there. The draft is a huge handicap to all the Qld and NSW (and to a lesser degree the SA) teams, having to develop youngsters and lose them to homesickness yet we really can't go hard at free agents as it only applies to players nearing the end of their careers, so we have to do with draft picks and the cycle repeats. The AFL is not a level playing field and never will be until the draft is gone completely. I will always be more Lions than Broncos and aussie rules than rugby league but I am starting to prefer the NRL as a competition than the AFL. To anyone who thinks I am talking shit, look at the list of NRL and AFL premiers in the last 15-20 years, look at the list of NRL and AFL teams that have made a prelim in the last 10. NRL is more even

 

[Our Game]

This a very big wake up call for the smug AFL top brass who think the game is in rude health!
It isnt and the poor crowds for some games this season and ratings drop are danger signs that the product being dished up from most matches is just plain boring unless you are a rusted on club supporter.
One problem is that the AFL hierarchy dont have to try hard as the game relies on the billions of TV dollars that actually keeps the AFL afloat and leads to complacency and laziness.

Our unique game over the last 100 odd years was based on one on one contests and high marking and now due to coaching styles borrowed from other sports like soccer and basketball and bad umpire coaching those wonderful traits are in danger of going the way of the dodo.

Its no wonder people esp casual viewers are switching off in large numbers.Who likes to watch a game played only in one half of the ground like an under 12 game and basically over at half time?

A warning, when a sport start to lose core supporters its ten times harder to get them back.
There are plenty of examples of popular sports on TV and live that have died and never recovered their former glory when they lose their basic support. Shield cricket,boxing,horse racing,trotting and basketball are some that come to mind.All those sports had great support and large crowds at one time but not now.