Comparing averages makes a lot of sense but only IF the games are shown in a similar manner. However they make a lot less sense when one competition shows every game in isolation, and the other shows only 1 game per week in isolation. For example last night the NRL had a single game on at 7.30pm which rated rated 304k, while the AFL only rated 228k and 163k last night.Darren wrote:I thought you would add up totals and work out averages over all games throughout the season. Surely total figures over the year say something about popularity as well though.
I suppose your method is coming from a AFL perspective. And didn't a League test match get big ratings recently?
If you take averages into account only the NRL looks to have won the night easily. Yet this completely disregards the fact that the AFL games were competing directly against each other for viewers. In reality the AFL was watched by 391k between 7.30 and 10.30. Sure its two games, but you simply cannot watch two games at the same time, so taking an average of the two is unseasonable. You also need to take into account that the AFL games are also shown against FTA which appears to lower the fox ratings. The NRLs games have all experienced this when shown simulcast on fox and FTA, resulting in lower fox ratings
The AFL also recorded near 800k on FTA last night, but again, this was for 2 games. On the surface this looks like a pretty poor result for two FTA games. But looking further you see that neither game was shown nationally. Half the country saw one and half saw the other. So taking totals into account is again not the entire story.
So with these limitations in mind the only realistic comparison is like for like, which is Friday night. This is each competition's premier ratings night when they play most of their best matches. Each game is also shown nationally and on FTA and fox.
Do you think Friday nights games are an unreasonable comparison?
