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McLachlan said the highest-rating grand final in history was the 1996 decider, when 4.4m watched the Swan lose to North Melbourne a week after Tony Lockett
PLAYERCARDSTART
Tony Lockett
- Age
- 58
- Ht
- 191cm
- Wt
- 108kg
- Pos.
- Fwd
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 10.2
- 3star
- K
- 8.4
- 3star
- HB
- 1.8
- 2star
- M
- 6.3
- 5star
- T
- 0.5
- 3star
- G
- 4.8
- 5star
No current season stats available
- D
- 8.2
- 2star
- K
- 5.6
- 3star
- HB
- 2.6
- 3star
- M
- 4.0
- 4star
- T
- 0.0
- 1star
- G
- 1.4
- 5star
PLAYERCARDEND
The 1996 figure marginally shades the viewership for Swans’ 2005 triumph against West Coast, which featured Leo Barry
PLAYERCARDSTART
Leo Barry
- Age
- 46
- Ht
- 184cm
- Wt
- 89kg
- Pos.
- Def
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 12.8
- 3star
- K
- 7.2
- 3star
- HB
- 5.6
- 4star
- M
- 5.0
- 5star
- T
- 1.6
- 4star
No current season stats available
- D
- 4.4
- 1star
- K
- 2.6
- 1star
- HB
- 1.8
- 2star
- M
- 0.8
- 1star
- T
- 1.2
- 3star
PLAYERCARDEND
The next four highest-rating AFL grand finals also featured the Swans: the 2006 loss to the Eagles (4.15m), the 2016 loss to the Bulldogs (4.09m), the 2012 victory over Hawthorn (4.08m) and the 2014 loss to Hawthorn (3.73m).
Grand final ratings record on cards after Buddy signing boosts Swans
The Swans look set to create another grand final ratings record as AFL chief Gill McLachlan hailed Lance Franklin’s re-signing.
www.smh.com.au
From AFL Annual Reports
- 2005 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles was the most-watched television program in Australia, with an average audience of 3.386 million in the five mainland capital cities. In Sydney, the AFL Grand Final attracted an average audience of more than 991,000 people compared with an average of 329,000 in 2004. The Eagles’ participation drove a 35 per cent increase in the average audience in Perth with 511,000 viewers compared with 350,000 in 2004.
- 2006 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final between the West Coast and Sydney was again the most watched AFL match of the year with an average audience in the five mainland capital cities of 3.15 million people. When the audience in regional Australia is added, some 4.15 million people in Australia watched the 2006 Grand Final on Network Ten.
- 2007 - Network Ten’s telecast of the 2007 Toyota AFL Grand Final between Geelong and Port Adelaide was the most watched television program of any kind in the past year, with an average national audience of 2.572 million people
- 2008 - The Seven Network’s broadcast of the 2008 Toyota AFL Grand Final had an average national audience of 3.247 million people and was the second most-watched TV program of any kind behind the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
- 2009 - The 2009 Toyota AFL Grand Final was the highest-rating sports program for the year and second highest-rating program for the year after the final of MasterChef. The 2009 Grand Final was watched by an average national audience of 3.8 million people on Network Ten, an 18.5 per cent increase on the 2008 Toyota AFL Grand Final.
- 2010 - 3,639,971 – AVERAGE NATIONAL SEVEN NETWORK AUDIENCE for the tied Toyota VERAGE NATIONAL SEVEN NETWORK AUDIENCE AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and St Kilda, which confirmed the Grand Final’s ranking as Australia’s most-watched annual sporting event.
- 2010 R - 3,522,652 – AVERAGE NATIONAL SEVEN NETWORK AUDIENCE for the VERAGE NATIONAL SEVEN NETWORK AUDIENCE, Toyota AFL Grand Final Replay, which was the second most-watched sporting event in Australia in 2010.
- 2011 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final continued to be the most-watched annual sporting event held in Australia, with a national average audience on Network Ten of 3,571,262 in 2011. 80 per cent of all television sets in use on the day were tuned into the Grand Final.
- 2012 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final continued to be the most watched annual sporting event held in Australia with an average national audience of 4.08 million and a peak audience of 5.08 million meaning that 82 per cent of all televisions in use at that time were tuned into the Grand Final. It was the highest-rating Grand Final since the 2006 Grand Final between the West Coast Eagles and Sydney Swans.
- 2013 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final was the third highest rating program of the year on Australian metropolitan free-to-air television, with a total national average audience of 3,633,764 in metropolitan and regional Australia for the Seven Network’s telecast while remaining the most watched sporting event on Australian television in 2013. The average Grand Final audience was down on last year, which simply reflected the fact that the Sydney Swans, from Australia’s biggest television market, were not competing. In terms of total reach, the Grand Final coverage was seen by just over six million people nationally, on par with 2013.
- 2014 - The Toyota AFL Grand Final was the most watched program of the year on Australian metropolitan free-to-air television with an audience of more than 2.828 million people in the five mainland metropolitan markets. The national average audience in metropolitan and regional Australia for the Seven Network’s telecast was 3,733,409. The average Grand Final audience was slightly higher than last year’s audience of 3.634 million for the match between Hawthorn and Fremantle. It was, however, down on the 4.081 million who watched the 2012 match between Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans – with this disparity between 2012 and 2014 largely due to the one-sided nature of the 2014 contest. In terms of total reach, the Grand Final coverage was seen by 6.24 million people nationally, on par with 2013.
- 2015 - The finals series began with the highest ratings for an opening week and continued to attract strong numbers throughout, culminating in a national average audience (metropolitan and regional) of 3.534 million for the Grand Final on the Seven Network. This represented a 5.33 per cent decrease on the 3.73 million viewers who tuned into the 2014 Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn. The metropolitan audience of 2.645 million viewers made it the second most-watched program on metropolitan free-to-air television in 2015.
- 2016 - The 2016 Toyota AFL Grand Final was the fourth most-watched game in AFL/VFL history with a national average audience (metropolitan and regional) of 4.12 million (4,121,368) on the Seven Network. It was the most watched program of any kind on Australian television in 2016 and had a whopping 16 per cent increase on last year’s Hawthorn v West Coast grand final.
All data from AFL Annual reports
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