State of the Game 2023: AFL/NRL Attendance, Members, Social Media and Television

[The_Wookie]

After a record breaking season and a huge grand final, its time to wrap up the season with a nice big bow, with new records set in Membership, Attendance and tv ratings.

Social Media

Collingwood leads all comers in the social media stakes with 390,000 followers on facebook, 368,000 followers on instagram, 157,000 on twitter (#2 behind Adelaide) and 213,000 followers on tiktok (#2 behind Geelong). Coming up behind them are Richmond and Hawthorn.

Reference table – AFL Social Media 2023



Membership

15 Clubs declared membership records this season, with only Hawthorn, Richmond and West Coast failing to set a new mark. Collingwood, West Coast and Richmond did all break the 100,000 mark for the season.

Reference tabe: AFL Membership 1984-2023


Attendance

The AFL set a new record for gross attendance reaching more than 8.1 million attendees in 2023 – the first time the 8 million mark has been breached. This was helped by the addition of a whole new round. A record 7.474 million attended home and away matches, and the 664,780 that attended during the finals is the second highest finals attendance of all time.

30 matches over the season broke the 60,000 crowd mark including a record 9 games over the 80,000 mark in 2023 (all at the MCG – totalling more than 2.4 million attendees on its own), as well as a record equalling 5 games over 90,000 in the finals series.

Attendances were helped by strong crowds in Melbourne for a dominant Collingwood and a resurgent Carlton, while Brisbane and the Swans had good runs further north.

Collingwood led the club attendances at 68,000 per game, followed by the Blues at 51,429, narrowly ahead of the Tigers on 51,420. The Bombers came in 4th at 46,690, while Freo were the best non Victorian side, coming in 5th at 44,097 per game.


Reference Tables

• All AFL Attendances in 2023
• Top AFL Attendance in 2023
• Venue Attendance in 2023
• State Attendance in 2023
• Club Attendance in 2023
• AFL Attendance by Round in 2023

Television

A big year for the AFL on television with estimated audiences reaching 141 million up to and including the AFL Grand Final. This doesnt include the ongoing AFLW season. This is up from the 125m estimated in 2022.

This is broken down into segments

• FTA 62.508m
• Foxfooty/Fox505 36.179m
• FoxBVOD est 44.201m
• Total 142.88m

At the start of the year we were estimated FoxBOVD (kayo/foxgo/foxnow) off reported ratings in round 1. From Round 23, Oztam began releasing Foxtel data via its live VPM reports. Since this started being reported we have seen the average stream worth almost a 1.26:1 ratio with STB. The Year has been adjusted to the more up to date data.

As always note that this data is Australian only unless specified. We simply cannot get the data we would like and many would seem happy for us to fabricate.

Metro FTA Audience

• Sydney average 22,000 (-21% Year on Year)
• Melbourne average 219,000 (-1.35%)
• Brisbane average 30,000 (+11%)
• Adelaide average 77,000 (no movement)
• Perth average 56,000 (-23%)
• Sydney/Brisbane combined average 39,000

Swans games in Sydney averaged 41,000 in 2023 (-19%), while GWS managed 19,000 per game (-20%). Games involving neither side averaged 15,000.

In Melbourne, the two games that didnt involve Melbourne sides rated an average of 154,000. Games involving Melbourne sides averaged 225,000.

In Brisbane, the Lions averaged 48,000 in 2023 – +17% YoY – (including a season high of 80,000), while the Suns managed 22,000 per game (no movement). Games involving neither side rated 26,000, (To be fair the Suns are Gold Coast based, but did struggle at the lower end of the ratings).

In Adelaide, the Crows averaged 94,000 a game (+10%), while the Power averaged 87,000 (-4%). The Showdowns rated 150,000 and 143,000, although the Crows/Blues round 5 magic round opener splt the two at 148,000. Games involving neither Adelaide side rated an average 68,000.

In Perth, West Coast matches averaged 74,000 – down 22% – while Fremantle games fared worse – down 28% YoY and averaged 69,000. The Western Derby rated 155,000 and 154,000. Games involving neither Perth side averaged 45,000.

Foxtel

Collingwood lead the way for the Clubs on Foxtel averaging 222,000 on set top boxes in 2023

• Carlton 194,000
• Geelong 189,000
• Richmond 185,000

Foxtel BVOD (Kayo/Go/NOW) over the last 6 weeks of the season gives a ratio of 1.26 for every set top box. This was surprising as we had previously been working of much lower reported data.

Finals

This years AFL FInals series rated 17.352m – up 16% on 2022 , including Grand Final ratings of 3.855m (up 25% on 2022), while both Prelims had audiences over 2 million each.

The Grand Final audience on Seven was also shown on 7plus for the first time under the new deal.

• Metro: 2.464m
• Regional: 989,000
• BVOD: 414,000
• Total: 3.855m total

Broadcasting Notes

Foxtel Media announced 19 brands have signed on as sponsors for the 2023 AFL season. AAMI, Chemist Warehouse, Coles, Ford, Harvey Norman, Hostplus, Industry Super Funds, KFC, McCain, McDonald’s, NAB, Sportsbet, Telstra, Toyota, and Xero are the 2023 season match day returning sponsors, with Bunnings, KIA, Menulog and Wild Turkey joining as new sponsors for the season.

Seven announced 21 partners and additional local parters for the 2023 season. Joining Seven’s coverage as broadcast partners are Toyota, AAMI, Macca’s, Harvey Norman and Bunnings. Sportsbet, Coles, Telstra, Industry Super Funds, Hostplus, CBUS, NAB, Asahi Beverages, Uber Eats, Chemist Warehouse, OMO Ultimate, Cash Converters, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, Tradie Underwear and Colgate-Palmolive join as broadcast sponsors, with additional brands signing on as local market sponsors.

AFLW

This season has a long way to go and isnt included here.

Notes and Sources

• Crowd data is checked against the AFL website and afltables.com – with assistance from Bigfooty members and twitter.
• Membership data is from club websites and the AFL
• Social media data is from facebook/twitter/instagram and tiktok
• TV Ratings data is from Oztam and VOZ. Estimates for FoxBVOD are based on the last 6 weeks of BVOD reporting on OZtam VPM reports.
• Our thanks to TVBlackbox for another year of assistance.

 

[The_Wookie]

Well after one of the best grand finals seen in many a year, its time to say goodbye to the NRL season and hello to the forthcoming internationals, but first we take a good look at the metrics from what was a record breaking season for the National Rugby League.

Attendance

its all good news here for the NRL as a record breaking 4,005,089 attended 204 NRL matches across two countries at an average of 19,633, using 49.5% of available capacity. This is a record total and average for the NRL.

The FInals season was attended by 329,255 at an average of 36,584 (83% of capacity), including 81,947 at Accor Stadium for the Grand Final (98% capacity). The 3 mens and 2 womens Origin matches attracted 207,635 at an average of 41,527 (85% capacity), and standalone NRLW matches contributed another 83,326 at an average of 2,778 per game.

In total 4.954m folks have attended professional rugby league matches in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

Suncorp Stadium was the best attended venue both on aggregate and average as more than a million attendees – 1/4 of the total attendance for the year! went to matches there at an average of more than 37,000, while Kayo Stadium made the best use of its capacity, using 100% of its available space.

Club home attendances were led by the Broncos (33,793), Dolphins (25,562) and Newcastle (21,132).

Attendances were affected by the Womens World Cup with the Broncos having to move games to the lower capacity Gabba, while construction restricted attendance at Pointsbet Stadium, and capacity limitations affected Kayo Stadium and Bluebet Stadium, but on the plus side 12 additional matches and multiple high drawing Queensland fixtures more than made up for it.


Reference Tables

• Total NRL Attendance by match
• Top Attendances over 30,000
• Total NRL Attendance by Club
• Total NRL Attendance by Venue

Membership

The NRL is for some reason reluctant to release membership figures, but fortunately Footyindustry and the good folks at @Leagueunlimited also track these sorts of things.

5 NRL clubs declared record membership in 2023 with Brisbane clocking in over 40,000, Canberra 24,060, Canterbury 22,000, Manly 16,332, and Sydney 20,072 The Warriors, Souths and Panthers again not declaring any numbers for the season. If these numbers are included we are probably looking at a record number of memberships

• 2010-2023 NRL Membership Table

Social Media

NRL clubs have 13 million followers across the major social media outlets, led by the Broncos with 737,000 facebook, 449,000 Instagram, 163,000 Twitter, and 330,000 followers. Coming in second are the Storm, closely followed by the Rabbitohs and Warriors.

• 2023 NRL Social Media table

Television

A massive year in Television for the NRL with an estimated audience of more than 174m for the year up to and including the Grand Finals of the NRL and NRLW. This is up from 149.35m in 2022, even accounting for the lack of NRLW in the 2022 figures.

• FTA 62.786m
• Foxleague (STB) 52.365m
• FoxBVOD est 52.257m*
• NRLW ~6.916m
• Total 174.134m

At the start of the year we were estimated FoxBOVD (kayo/foxgo/foxnow) off reported ratings in round 1. From Round 24, Oztam began releasing Foxtel data via its live VPM reports. Since this started being reported we have seen the average stream worth almost a 1:1 ratio with STB.

As always note that this data is Australian only unless specified. We simply cannot get the data we would like and many would seem happy for us to fabricate.

Preason

The preseason was exclusive to Foxtel, where it puilled an audience of 932,000 in the first week, averaging 103,000 on Foxtel and 1.104m in the second, averaging 123,000 viewers per match. The preseason was down on the 2.891m who watched in 2022.

The Indigenous Allstar clash was watched by 134,000 on Foxtel, with a similar number believed to have stream the event.

Home and Away season

Despite fantastic ratings for the season, the NRL was challenged by both the mid year Ashes series and the Womens world cup right before the finals.

The most watched match of the season was thjefirst Dolphins/Broncos derby with a record 1.441m viewers on Fox and Nine. T

The Home and away season tallied an estimated 140m viewers (well up from the 118.964m viewers we estimated in 2022)., including

• 42.345m viewers on Nine (up from 32.267m)
• 49.141m viewers on Foxtel Set top boxes (up from 42.74m)
• up to 48.631m viewers on Foxtels streaming services.

Metro Audiences

• Sydney average 161,000
• Melbourne average 12,000
• Brisbane average 111,000
• Adelaide average 7,000
• Perth average 8,000

In Melbourne the Storm average 33,000, and when the Storm arent playing the NRL averages 8,000.

In Brisbane, the Broncos average 170,000, the Dolphins average 126,000. Other Queensland regional teams average 131,000 on Nine, while matches involving no Queensland sides average 98,000.

In NSW, Sydney sides average 163,000 per game, while sides from regional NSW average 163,000 as well. Matches with no teams from NSW average 146,000.

The leading clubs on television during the season werre Brisbane, Sth Sydney, Penrith and Melbourne.

• Brisbane were the dominant club on Nine averaging 620,000 viewers per game.
• Penrith 586,000
• Parramatta 569,000
• Sth Sydney 549,000
• Dolphins 521,000
• Melbourne 518,000
• Sydney 510,000

Brisbane were also dominant on Foxtels set top box programming, averaging 288,000 per game

• Sth Sydney 270,000
• Melbourne 267,000
• Nth Queensland 259,000
• Penrith 257,000

Finals

The NRL Finals series had 13.879m viewers, with 3.404m tuning in to watch the Grand FInal. This is down from the 15.54m that watched last year.

The most watched final leading up to thje grand final was week 1s Brisbane v Melbourne wich was watched by 1.504m viewers.

Grand Final audience

• Metro 1.841m
• Regional 957,000
• BVOD 607,000
• Total 3.404m (according to VOZ)

When Finals are included the most watched clubs for the year were Brisbane and Penrith, followed by Melbourne and Sydney.

State of Origin

State of Origin had 10.681m viewers across Mens and womens matches this year. This was up from the 9.939m that watched last year, but with an extra womens origin thrown in.

• Origin 1: 3.421m
• Origin 2: 3.191m
• Origin 3: 2.631m

Broadcast notes

Foxtel Media has signed 12 brands as sponsors for the 2023 NRL season starting March 2. Sportsbet, McDonald’s, KIA, KFC, VB, McCain, Ford, Red Rooster, Harvey Norman, Chemist Warehouse and Telstra are the 2023 season game day sponsors, with Westpac coming on as the 2023 Fox League Super Saturday Naming Rights partner.

Nine announced 14 partners for the 2023 NRL season. Harvey Norman, Telstra, Sportsbet and McDonald’s have returned as Full Season Partners, each leveraging of Nine’s NRL content ecosystem. Chemist Warehouse, Kia, Gulf Western Oil, Isuzu Utes, Stan, Tradie and RAM Trucks are also returning as sponsors, while a number of new partner brands, including Westpac, Youi and DoorDash, have partnered with Nine’s footy in 2023.

NRLW

Andrew Abdo stated that around 6 million people had watched NRLW leading into the Grand Final. 916,000 viewers tuned in across Foxtel and Nine, and when BVOD comes back I expect viewership to hit a million for the NRLW Grand Final.

Origin 1 had 761,000 viewers, while Origin 2 had 677,000 viewers

Stand alone womens matches during the season attracted 83,326 to home and away matches.

NZ and other overseas locations.

Sky reported 700,000 viewers for the week 1 final. We have not been able to clarify exactly whether this is average, peak or reach. NZ media also report this didnt include numbers from Skys sport streaming service.

With no other data to draw on, and no substantial data since 2015, we are unable to even make an educated guess at what the ratings would be now. If that offends you, Im not sorry. Theres literally nothing I can do about it until such a time as data is available.

Sources and acknowledgements

• Crowds are sourced from NRL.com, and verified through RLtables with assistance from LeagueUnlimited
• Memberships are sourced from club websites, social media and the NRL website. With assistance from LeagueUnlimited
• Social Media data is taken from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok.
• Ratings data is provided by Oztam and VOZ. Estimated BVOD data is derived from BVOD data on the OZtam site. With assistance from TVBlackbox.

Id like to thank everyone on twitter and Leagueunlimited, and yes even Bigfooty who helped put this altogether over the year.