2026 TV Ratings

[bigleague]

Good ratings for the AFL, good ratings for the women's SOO.

Women’s SOO wasn’t a great spectacle, it’s very unfair on them to ask them to play a rep game first up before their NRLW season has even kicked off yet. Good ratings for women’s sport though, although probably still less than they would have got for any regular nrl game simulcast across nine & fox.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Last year's AFLW season started on a Thursday night on the weekend of the men's R23, and the same Thursday has been left open for this year as well.

One game. Women's SOO is three games.

 

[Teen Wolf]

One game. Women's SOO is three games.

Last year started with Carlton v Collingwood at 7.15pm followed by West Coast v Gold Coast at 9.15pm on national FTA (eastern times).

This is the fixturing of an admin too comfortable giving crap women's football teams prime time exposure, as if to say: "Today's tv ratings are inconsequential to the long-term outlook of the league".

I believe they are justified in this thinking on one level, though at the same time it conveniently aligns with a lack of short-term ambition.

 

[Bjo187]

Ratings for Friday night and Sunday.

 

[Cmarsh]

Ratings for Friday night and Sunday.

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Ratings over the past few weeks seem alot closer between NRL and AFL then the NRL would like to admit?

 

[Bjo187]

Ratings over the past few weeks seem alot closer between NRL and AFL then the NRL would like to admit?

Yeah but I'd say they lose on reach about 90% of the time and averages about 50%, so they're likely use to losing. They really go hard on parroting wins any time they occur though.

 

[hampton]

Yeah but I'd say they lose on reach about 90% of the time and averages about 50%, so they're likely use to losing. They really go hard on parroting wins any time they occur though.

Except that NRL are winning the ratings that matter, averages, 7 out of 10 times. And winning BVOD 10 out of 10 times. And when they lose, its not by much.

 

[Bjo187]

Except that NRL are winning the ratings that matter, averages, 7 out of 10 times. And winning BVOD 10 out of 10 times. And when they lose, its not by much.

Welcome back troll. That matter? Well clearly not according to the TV networks that pay more for the AFL rights every time this century. To them audience reach, broadcast time and metro audiences seem to matter more. All things your mates really struggle in.

Also I think Wookie mentioned previously that the streaming number is included into the other columns, so you might be double dipping there.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Except that NRL are winning the ratings that matter, averages, 7 out of 10 times. And winning BVOD 10 out of 10 times. And when they lose, its not by much.

You do realise that when AFL and NRL go head-to-head - such as Thursday night and Sunday afternoon broadcasts - the minutes that the NRL don't broadcast - like late on Thursday and early on Sunday - are the "overhang" minutes where viewership is quite low (which is still bigger than no sport at all).

Between 3.15 and 4.00pm

• Nobody watches Channel 9 (maybe 100,000 people countrywide)
• A few more people watch Channel 7 (maybe 250,000 people countrywide).

And then between 4.00pm to 6pom

• A lot of people watch Channel 9
• Even more people watch Channel 7.

Guess which "average broadcast" is higher between NRL and AFL broadcasts?

 

[Rob]

Massive numbers for the AFL last night. Interestingly 7 broadcast on the main channel in Perth - shifting the news forward for the first time I can remember. I'd be interested to see the Perth numbers as a result.

 

[Bjo187]

Yeah finally 7 Perth moved the news to accommodate for the footy, I was pleased to see this as it makes a big difference to ratings when the game is on the main channel.

Another over 700k average and close to 2 million reach. The AFL have had some really good ratings the past few weeks, the footy is delivering on Thursday and Friday night unlike last year.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Curious as to what 7 News on the main channel had rated in Perth on the previous Thursdays

132k last Thursday
114k Thursday before
120k Thursday before



Of course a Perth team aren't going to be playing every night game that eats into the news timeslot in Perth, it was a close game with two top-of-the-ladder teams, and C7 make strategic decisions other than a bigger ratings figure.

But the uplift for Perth viewers on 7 was 25% and that's with a Freo game, not a WC one.

Plus 54,000 people in the stands.

 

[Rob]

Freo play on Friday night in 2 weeks and traditionally they've shunted it off to 7mate so we'll see what they do then.

 

[The_Wookie]

AFL

Thursday Night AFL averages 698,000 for the season, up from 619,000 at the same time in 2025. (+12.7% YoY). Consolidated average audiences are 709,000 for the season, up from 622,000 in 2025 (+13.98% YoY).

Reach audiences average 1.965m in 2026, up on the 1.776m from the same time in 2025 (+10.6% YoY), while BVOD audiences average 108,000, up on the 44,000 from the same time last year (+145% YoY). This data is sourced from VOZ.

Sydney audiences average 40,000 – with Swans matches hitting 71,000 in Sydney in Rounds 1 and Round 7. In Melbourne audiences average 263,000, with 313,000 tuning in for the Blues/Pies. in Adelaide the average audience is 90,000, with 145,000 switching on for the Crows/Blues at the start of Gather Round. In Perth, the average audience is 62,000, with 152,000 turning over the Dockers in Round 9 – one of the few Thursday matches not shown in Perth on 7mate. This data is sourced from Mediaspy.

 

[GenericUsername202]

NRL started stronger, but the AFL has really switched the ledger after round 3.

 

[The_Wookie]

#AFL

Power/Dogs & Lions/Blues – No splits expected

• Seven 541k (BVOD 72k) Reach 1.651m

Sevens Friday Night Football broadcasts have an average audience of 620,000 per national broadcast, or 486,000 per match broadcast. The national broadcast average is up 1.6%% YoY from 610,000 in 2025. Consolidated ratings come in at 639,000, up 6.3% YoY - from 601,000 in 2025.

The average Reach per broadcast is 1.741m in 2026, this is down slightly from 1.791m in 2025 (-2.97% YoY). Average BVOD audience is 86,000, up from 43,000 in 2025 (+100% YoY)

Pies/Dockers remains the highest rating Friday Night AFL game with 741,000 national average, while the Swans/Giants & Dogs/Bombres had the highest reach to date at 2.093m.

 

[The_Wookie]

Also I think Wookie mentioned previously that the streaming number is included into the other columns, so you might be double dipping there.

BVOD is included with Total TV (average and reach)

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

AFL

Thursday Night AFL averages 698,000 for the season, up from 619,000 at the same time in 2025. (+12.7% YoY). Consolidated average audiences are 709,000 for the season, up from 622,000 in 2025 (+13.98% YoY).

Reach audiences average 1.965m in 2026, up on the 1.776m from the same time in 2025 (+10.6% YoY), while BVOD audiences average 108,000, up on the 44,000 from the same time last year (+145% YoY). This data is sourced from VOZ.

Sydney audiences average 40,000 – with Swans matches hitting 71,000 in Sydney in Rounds 1 and Round 7. In Melbourne audiences average 263,000, with 313,000 tuning in for the Blues/Pies. in Adelaide the average audience is 90,000, with 145,000 switching on for the Crows/Blues at the start of Gather Round. In Perth, the average audience is 62,000, with 152,000 turning over the Dockers in Round 9 – one of the few Thursday matches not shown in Perth on 7mate. This data is sourced from Mediaspy.

What has changed since this 2022 ABC article with the way the TV audience is measured???

Thursday nights are supposed to be similar to Friday night's and average close to 1mil.

Are AFL clubs getting a fair deal when it comes to off-field finances?

As well as competing for points on the field, AFL teams face some tough battles off it. Some clubs earn more money than others, so how does your team fare when it comes to off-field financials?

www.abc.net.au

 

[Teen Wolf]

The difference is it used to be easy to get the Foxtel numbers. The 698k figure for Thursdays this year is Channel 7 viewers only.

 

[The_Wookie]

What has changed since this 2022 ABC article with the way the TV audience is measured???

Thursday nights are supposed to be similar to Friday night's and average close to 1mil.

Are AFL clubs getting a fair deal when it comes to off-field finances?

As well as competing for points on the field, AFL teams face some tough battles off it. Some clubs earn more money than others, so how does your team fare when it comes to off-field financials?

www.abc.net.au

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Yeah. when they wrote this article we were still getting Fox data

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Yeah. when they wrote this article we were still getting Fox data

Why has Fox Footy stopped giving out data? Was it after the Dazn deal? The deal was announced 23 December 2024 and was completed April 2025.

 

[Gizmo]

Why has Fox Footy stopped giving out data? Was it after the Dazn deal? The deal was announced 23 December 2024 and was completed April 2025.

Foxtel announced that they were pulling out of OzTam in September 2024.

 

[The_Wookie]

Why has Fox Footy stopped giving out data? Was it after the Dazn deal? The deal was announced 23 December 2024 and was completed April 2025.

Timeline

• 2001 - Oztam changes to new reporting structure, making it difficult to compare with previous ratings.
• 2013 - Regional ratings reports became more commonplace after being rare and difficult for public to access, thorugh RegTAM.
• 2015 - Throng.NZ shutsdown, killing off most daily NZ reporting for ratings.
• 2015 - US media reports cease posting AFL/NRL data from cable ratings.
• 2022- Oztam begins trialling its VOZ system
• 2023 - We begin to recieve proper ratings data for streaming through Oztam for Foxtel, but not Stan or Paramount+
• 2023 - May. VOZ becomes publicly available data but not in its final form. VOZ aims to eliminate double counting and other inaccuracies in the old system as well as including streaming data with linear data. VOZ means Australia will be among the first countries in the world with an industry-agreed way to “de-duplicate” how many people are watching shows and ads through a TV aerial and through a broadcast video on-demand app like 7plus, 10 Play or SBS On Demand.
• 2024 - VOZ goes live with national reach, average and bvod data,
• 2024 - Foxtel announces withdrawal from Oztam citing 40% undercounting in ratings data. Foxtel announces Kantar will take over its audience measurement.
• 2025 - VOZ becomes reporting standard. Streaming data ceases to be available separately. Regtam ceases separate reporting.
• 2025 - Foxtel STV and streaming data ceases to be reported by Oztam.
• 2025 - US cable ratings begin to be reported again
• 2026 - Extended US Cable reporting ceases.

The Foxtel Issue

In March 2023, it was reported that Rupert Murdoch’s TV and streaming company Foxtel was fighting claims it is overstating its audience on key entertainment and sports content, including NRL and AFL broadcasts, which could reduce how much money it receives from advertisers.

According to the SMH, Multiple media sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak publicly, claim Foxtel is misstating data it receives from OzTAM by combining it with internal data and failing to remove duplicate audiences across its services, such as Foxtel IQ, Foxtel Go, Binge and Kayo Sports.

The sources said Foxtel was told its audiences may be overstated by between 30 per cent and 40 per cent

Later in March 2023, it was reported that Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel may have inadvertently overstated audiences on key sports matches by as much as 40 per cent, an issue that has forced TV ratings provider OzTAM to rapidly update the way it measures the pay TV and streaming company’s data.

In September 2024, Australia’s TV ratings agency OzTAM announced that Foxtel has chosen to withdraw from its measurement data from the end of the year.

In October 2024, Foxtel Media announced it will launch a new total audience measurement solution, Kantar, to better capture and report the viewing habits of all of the Foxtel Group’s 4.8 million linear and streaming subscribers.

Foxtel reportedly finds Kantar to be more to their liking with previous OzTAM reporting 49 per cent of half-hour slots with zero ratings across Foxtel programming in August 2024, compared to 2 per cent with the new measurement solution.

From January 1, 2025, no Foxtel data is available in either streaming or STV data. Foxtel ratings now supplied on occasion by broadcaster or sports league, just like Paramount+ and Stan.

 

[Gizmo]

 

[The Educator]

An average audience of 681K