AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

AFL football TV ratings and discussion.
Post Reply
User avatar
Beaussie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9890
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:38 pm
Team: Sydney Swans
Location: Sydney
Has thanked: 231 times
Been liked: 51 times

AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by Beaussie »

Very interesting reading and shows tv ratings alone don't tell the full story... for instance see how the AFL keeps its fans more engaged than the NRL and the smaller audiences outside the heartlands show even less engagement in the NRL.

Challenges clearly still remain for both codes. You'd have to say the AFL is doing better though based on the analysis pointed out in the article below.

Thoughts?
AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands
October 4, 2016 6.17pm AEDT

Author: Hunter Fujak
PhD candidate, University of Technology Sydney

With the AFL and NRL grand finals now played over the same weekend, there’s never been greater scrutiny in comparing the television ratings of these two sport spectacles. While the on-field football contests were both highly combative, the off-field battle between these two winter football codes is arguably just as competitive.

These off-field battles can be measured with metrics such as attendances, memberships, fan numbers and television ratings; all of these critical in maintaining each league’s place in Australian culture. Television ratings are particularly vital: they underpin the multi-billion dollar price tags placed on each code’s broadcast rights. This has a flow-on effect in terms of how much advertisers pay during sport telecasts.

This season offers an unusual opportunity to compare television ratings, given the similar regional blend of teams in the finals. In each game, a local underdog (Western Bulldogs and Cronulla Sharks) played off against an interstate expansion club (Sydney Swans and Melbourne Storm).

While the aggregated ratings figures are well reported, with the AFL generating a national average audience of 4.1 million and NRL 3.7 million, considerably more information about the codes can be inferred from the television ratings data that sits beneath this top-line figure.

The battle between different codes

The AFL has placed strategic and financial investment in expanding its game into the northern markets of NSW and Queensland.

As early as 1984, following the establishment of an independent commission, the Victorian Football League produced a strategic plan in which “a programme of national expansion” was one of four key pillars.

This is unsurprising considering current figures; these two northern states not only account for 53% of the population, but are responsible for 57% of advertising spend on free-to-air television (FTA).

In addition to this, Sydney is the single largest media market in the country, accounting for 29% of advertising expenditure within Australia (Melbourne is 21%). This distribution of advertising spend between the northern and southern markets explains why the NRL is able to achieve comparable broadcast rights despite the perception of it being a sport that has its hubs in just two states.

Despite the more progressive expansion program of the AFL, whose branding and marketing communications is more focused toward being “Australia’s game”, the distribution of audience across Australia during the 2016 final confirms that both leagues still rely heavily on heartland markets. Specifically, the AFL derived 70% of its metropolitan audience from heartland markets (Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth) while the NRL similarly derived 67% of its audience from Sydney and Brisbane.

The audience share of each market during the finals (average audience divided by population) illustrates that the AFL have indeed made stronger in-roads into the northern markets, although considerable work remains before either game has an even distribution of viewers.

Image
Figure 1: Average audience share by market and code

A sign for optimism within NRL headquarters would be that more Melbournians tuned into the NRL final to watch their team (609,000, 12.2% share) compared to Sydney and the AFL grand final (534,000, 10.7% share). However, analysis of ratings suggests that the value of grand final appearances, in terms off promoting the game in expansion markets, is diminishing.

In the case of the Sydney Swans, its local audience in Sydney for 2016 grand final was in fact the lowest of the five grand finals it has featured in since 2005. Similarly, the Melbourne Storm’s audience was the second lowest of the six it has featured in since 2006.

How engaged are viewers?

By considering the reach of a telecast (the cumulative number of unique viewers who have seen at least one minute of the program), it is possible to calculate the loyalty of an audience. When we look at this for the grand finals, there are significant differences between the codes and across markets.

The AFL appears to have a clear advantage in keeping its fans engaged. The average metropolitan viewer watched 102 of the 160 minute game telecast (64%) while the average NRL viewer watched 67 of the 120 minute game telecast (56%).

These differences however become much larger for the NRL across markets. In Sydney and Brisbane, viewers watched an average 64% of the telecast compared to only 44% in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Therefore, the NRL not only has a smaller audience in these markets overall, but also a less engaged audience.

Image
Figure 2: Average % of telecast watched by market and code

Free-to-air broadcasters still have large audiences for the grand finals of both codes. Indeed, the ability to achieve such ratings within one weekend is perhaps the ultimate testament to Australia’s sporting culture.

Despite these audiences, both codes remain reliant on their traditional heartland. While the AFL certainly appears to have made strong in-roads, developing a fully engaged national broadcast audience in non-traditional areas remains a generational challenge.

http://theconversation.com/afl-and-nrl- ... ands-66485
pussycat
Coach
Coach
Posts: 6626
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:50 pm
Team: The Shanghai Sharks
Location: far away
Has thanked: 8 times
Been liked: 32 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by pussycat »

What I take from this article, And I struggle to see how any sane person could think otherwise is, The AFL have put far more time and money into trying, however have pickup up less Sydney viewers than the NRL have picked up Melbourne viewers.
Rugby League, the dominant force in Australian sport! :cheers:

"I do like annoying the Victorians; they are so easy to get, At times I've looked at them and had a giggle." Peter V'Landys
AFLcrap1
Coach
Coach
Posts: 18930
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:49 am
Team: The Scottish Puffins
Location:
Has thanked: 107 times
Been liked: 75 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by AFLcrap1 »

Lol yep that's about it .
100s of millions of$$$$ spent in the northern states by the afl

About 30c spent by the NRL in Vic .

lol
TLPG 🤣liar extraordinaire
You should thank me for publishing your IP

and I never published any actual IP. That's it.
🤣
I was a mod at the time .
Xman wrote
I also gave them to TLPG believing he was still a mod.I admit I made a mistake.
:^o :^o
User avatar
Beaussie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9890
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:38 pm
Team: Sydney Swans
Location: Sydney
Has thanked: 231 times
Been liked: 51 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by Beaussie »

pussycat wrote:
What I take from this article, And I struggle to see how any sane person could think otherwise is, The AFL have put far more time and money into trying, however have pickup up less Sydney viewers than the NRL have picked up Melbourne viewers.
Sydney viewers watched more of the AFL than Melbourne viewers watched the NRL and just 10% less than the Sydney viewers watching the NRL.

RL heartland :(/

Image
Figure 2: Average % of telecast watched by market and code
User avatar
leagueiscrap
Banned
Posts: 7907
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 11:08 am
Team: Essendon
Location:
Has thanked: 16 times
Been liked: 7 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by leagueiscrap »

the tinfoil hat mob will take their one figure, ignore the rest and run with it.

pretty good effort by the QLD side of things as well, considering the lions and suns are hopeless, hopefully they will improve onfield again, their interest will only continue to grow
Australian sporting sponsorship
AFL excess of $50m
A league $30 million plus
ARU $27 million
NRLOL $25 million

Leagueiscrap
and she still changes your nappies as well!
pusseycat replys
Only when I have an accident.
User avatar
leagueiscrap
Banned
Posts: 7907
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 11:08 am
Team: Essendon
Location:
Has thanked: 16 times
Been liked: 7 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by leagueiscrap »

Lol the tin foil hat brigade have abandoned the thread like they do with reality
Australian sporting sponsorship
AFL excess of $50m
A league $30 million plus
ARU $27 million
NRLOL $25 million

Leagueiscrap
and she still changes your nappies as well!
pusseycat replys
Only when I have an accident.
User avatar
leeroy*NRL*
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 6317
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:54 pm
Team: St George Illawarra Dragons
Location: Gold Coast
Has thanked: 215 times
Been liked: 67 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by leeroy*NRL* »

thank You BEAUSSIE for this article.

but yes what I got from this is The NRL and AFL are very close.

strong in there heartlands. (which we already new)

also that the AFL have pumped millions into QLD AND NSW to get there result
where the NRL very little.

it also states that the NRL reason why they got a large tv deal
was because of the tv revenue in these 2 states is at 57% share..

while this may be true..

it doesn't state that the AFL have a lot more advertising opportunities in there game.
and why they got a large deal..

lets face it, Advertising spots is everything.. (advantage AFL)
User avatar
leagueiscrap
Banned
Posts: 7907
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 11:08 am
Team: Essendon
Location:
Has thanked: 16 times
Been liked: 7 times

Re: AFL and NRL grand final TV ratings show codes still rely on their traditional heartlands

Post by leagueiscrap »

leeroy*NRL* wrote:
thank You BEAUSSIE for this article.

but yes what I got from this is The NRL and AFL are very close.

strong in there heartlands. (which we already new)

also that the AFL have pumped millions into QLD AND NSW to get there result
where the NRL very little.

it also states that the NRL reason why they got a large tv deal
was because of the tv revenue in these 2 states is at 57% share..

while this may be true..

it doesn't state that the AFL have a lot more advertising opportunities in there game.
and why they got a large deal..

lets face it, Advertising spots is everything.. (advantage AFL)
lol but but but


SOO makes up 10% of the total Broadcast revenue add in the international 4inbrednations etc you know extra stuff the AFL doesnt have

play the GFs in similar time slots and see how it goes! on nearly every occasion when it happens the AFL flogs the NRLOL
Australian sporting sponsorship
AFL excess of $50m
A league $30 million plus
ARU $27 million
NRLOL $25 million

Leagueiscrap
and she still changes your nappies as well!
pusseycat replys
Only when I have an accident.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests