Bumper ratings for Friday's thriller
10 September 2005
Jennifer Witham
Sportal for AFL.com.au
http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?p ... eid=228255
Sydney’s nail-biting three-point win over the Cats on Friday night attracted an enormous number of viewers across Australia, which indicates genuine interest in the truly national make-up of the finals race.
David Barham, Channel Ten's head of football, told radio 3AW on Saturday that the numbers that tuned into Friday night's clash were big, and in particular that Sydney's peak audience was decidedly impressive.
"We had big audiences last night, it was fantastic. Nationally we had a peak audience of 1.8 million and an average of 1.27 million," Barham said on Saturday afternoon.
"The peak in Melbourne was close to 900,000 people, and in Sydney there was a peak audience of 378,000 people, which is great."
Barham said Sydney's peak audience occurred late in the game which could be attributed to the fact the AFL semi-final was in direct competition with Channel Nine's rugby league telecast of the Wests Tigers-North Queensland Cowboys qualifying final.
"I think a lot of (the audience) tuned in late, and that might have had something to do with the rugby league game as well," he said.
"When they came in at least they saw something worth watching."
Collingwood president and Channel Nine presenter Eddie McGuire agreed the figures indicated a rise in the popularity of AFL in Sydney.
"Once the rugby league finished, those that actually like the oval sports, the rugby league and the AFL, swapped from Channel Nine to Ten, so there was some very heartening figures there for AFL in Sydney, particularly in the last hour of football," McGuire told 3AW in a separate interview.
Barham also touched on the argument surrounding live telecasts of football and networks' use of the "countdown clock" against the "five minute warning", where the remaining time left in a game is shown only as overtime.
Barham said the close encounter between the Swans and Cats demonstrated exactly why Ten chooses to use the "five minute warning" method, as the excitement of the game was kept paramount for viewers after the Swans kicked a goal with one second remaining.
"From my point of view, my argument has remained the same all along. Last night was the reason I have done it this way the whole time, as when Nick Davis kicked that unbelievable goal there was one second left on the clock," Barham said.
"What happened was, the spectators, the crowd, everybody was all still very excited as the ball went back to the middle, the ball was thrown up and then we got the result.
"If we had the clock going the other way last night, the game would have ended when Davis kicked the goal. So effectively, our viewers got an extra 40 seconds of enjoyment and I think that's why we've done it since the beginning."
