IRONED OUT!
by Selina Steele
The Brisbanes Lions' slide down the AFL ladder has them on the nose with viewers. On free-to-air and Pay TV, Brisbane Lions' audiences have dropped by a staggering 80,000 per week.
Nationally, SBS cult cooking show The Iron Chef has at times out-rated the pride of Brisbane town. Faster than the Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai can chop, slice and dice a chinese cabbage viewers are dropping off the former AFL heavyweights.
A study of OzTam television revealed:
1) Only 70,000 Brisbane viewers tuned into last Saturday's night's Lions- Richmond telecast - a 48,000 drop from when the teams met in Round 4;
2) Nationally more people watched Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee (320,000) than the Lion's 82 point loss to Terry Wallace's Tigers(278,000) last Saturday night; ( Is this a record low for an AFL game... :P )
3) Nationally five times this season, The Iron Chef has outrated a Lions' game;
4) Last year's best result was 234,000 v St. Kilda in the opening round. This season the high was 169,000 for the MCG Collingwood game in Round 10;
5)Last season's low of 108,000 against St. Kilda was still 38,000 more than last week's ratings.
AFL Operating officer Ben Buckley said yeaterday:
"AFL games in Queensland this year, which are primarily centred around telecasts of the Brisbane Lions have had a drop in their audience number.
This no doubt reflects a difficult year for the club on the field in terms of wins and losses. However the AFL looks at the longer term picture...the number watching the game in Queensland are considerable further along from the number of people who watched AFL games in Queensland in 2002.
In the five year period fron 2002-2006, our TV audience in Queensland has grown by more than 50%, enabling us to really push along our development plans for the code, particularly in south-east Queensland."
Concerned at the slide in audience numbers, Lions chief Michael Bowers said it was a warning to the AFL that there was still plenty of work to be done in Queensland.
"We have been saying for quite some time that the Brisbane Lions have been able to achieve during our premiership years is not normal trading conditions," he said.
"We're concerned that the AFL might have put its glasses down as far as Queensland is concerned. We think their focus has shifted to NSW and Victorian clubs..."
members shmembers i say, it really doesn't tell a hell of alot when it comes to comparing interest in league vs interest in afl. However i'd be interested to know the truth on who's been getting more crowds live at the game and on television this season..
