Real Membership Numbers

Aug 25, 2005
11,640
16,684
Grogansville
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Stumbled across this as I was reading about memberships relating to another thread:

1609537747404.png


The part that interested me, was that nearly half of all these 'members' are not what I would refer to as genuine members.

Meaning, only half are actually those old school memberships where you pay the club upfront to go and watch most/all games.

Do clubs release the breakdown of their memberships?

Do we actually know how 'genuine members' each club has? ie. Home, Home and Away and Reduced Access?
 

dave10

Premiership Player
Apr 26, 2004
4,277
3,457
Melbourne
AFL Club
Essendon
Stumbled across this as I was reading about memberships relating to another thread:

View attachment 1034658

The part that interested me, was that nearly half of all these 'members' are not what I would refer to as genuine members.

Meaning, only half are actually those old school memberships where you pay the club upfront to go and watch most/all games.

Do clubs release the breakdown of their memberships?

Do we actually know how 'genuine members' each club has? ie. Home, Home and Away and Reduced Access?
Club membership figures have increasingly become challenging to measure. Nowadays some clubs are even recording in their figures memberships they’ve given away free of charge (buy one get one free), Carlton’s figures for 2021 reflect strong growth by reporting sales of ‘free’ memberships. It distorts the truth somewhat and makes reviewing club tallies problematical. It’s possible Carlton will report 80,000 members in 2021 with possibly 10,000-15,000 of them given away as in real terms freebies.

Anyhow, Carlton will be hoping these freebies convert to real paid up memberships in 2022 so the strategy is a good way of generating long term sales and revenue. Most clubs will possibly follow suit in future. It just makes a mockery of the thing when Carlton supporters cheer a membership of 80,000 when in all honesty it’s not the same as a Collingwood 80,000 in real terms.

Broader than that, all clubs do different things which makes like for like comparison difficult.
 
Nov 8, 2000
33,295
21,790
South of the river
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Peel Thunder
The part that interested me, was that nearly half of all these 'members' are not what I would refer to as genuine members.

Meaning, only half are actually those old school memberships where you pay the club upfront to go and watch most/all games.

Do clubs release the breakdown of their memberships?

Most clubs don't, and TBH I don't see what they'd gain out of doing so. Membership figures have become a marketing tool in themselves, allowing a club to trumpet just how popular they are, but these numbers are rarely backed up by crowd figures.

In the end it doesn't do any harm, but they've lost any credibility in terms of judging popularity. Especially for clubs that consistently draw less than half their membership to games.
 
Aug 14, 2011
44,794
16,853
Trafalgar
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Mclaren Mercedes F1
Most clubs don't, and TBH I don't see what they'd gain out of doing so. Membership figures have become a marketing tool in themselves, allowing a club to trumpet just how popular they are, but these numbers are rarely backed up by crowd figures.

In the end it doesn't do any harm, but they've lost any credibility in terms of judging popularity. Especially for clubs that consistently draw less than half their membership to games.

3 game memberships have a lot to do with that effect.

Total agree with only info we get is what the marketing department/AFL media want us to get.
The financials do their best to ensure a positive spin, 'iffy' its been described by REH.
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,569
87,812
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
Most clubs don't, and TBH I don't see what they'd gain out of doing so. Membership figures have become a marketing tool in themselves, allowing a club to trumpet just how popular they are, but these numbers are rarely backed up by crowd figures.

In the end it doesn't do any harm, but they've lost any credibility in terms of judging popularity. Especially for clubs that consistently draw less than half their membership to games.

The value of memberships isn’t so much the club being able to market its popularity, it’s the fact they have all your details incl age, address, email, phone, DOB and the fact you’re a dedicated club / footy supporter.

The database is gold that they sell to sponsors as part of their sponsorships. Targeted marketing is much more effective than mass marketing so the database is a pot of gold.
 

Our Game

Club Legend
Sep 30, 2014
2,881
1,705
Sandringham
AFL Club
Geelong
The value of memberships isn’t so much the club being able to market its popularity, it’s the fact they have all your details incl age, address, email, phone, DOB and the fact you’re a dedicated club / footy supporter.

The database is gold that they sell to sponsors as part of their sponsorships. Targeted marketing is much more effective than mass marketing so the database is a pot of gold.
100% correct! Bunk Moreland It's the Databases the clubs want!
 
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