Why The Networks Love FootyRoy Morgan research
10th November, 2010Australian football in all it’s forms remains one of the highest viewing areas on television, according to research by Roy Morgan.
TV audiences are crucial to delivering rights revenue for each Australian football code from free-to-air and Pay TV operators.
AFL (Australian Football League or "Aussie rules") remains the code with the highest total number of viewers with 36.6% (estimated at 6.6 million) who watch “always” or “occasionally.”
The NRL (National Rugby League)State of Origin which showcases the best Australian players is a must-watch program for 20.3% (estimated at 3.6 million) of Australians, achieving the highest rating for “almost always” watching of any code. Total viewers for NRL State of Origin were 4.9 million.
The Super 14 and A-League (rugby union) have found a solid audience on Pay TV with 8.2% (estimated at 1.5 million) watching Super 14 and 7.8% (estimated at 1.4 million) watching A-League, although their audience is less loyal with a higher ratio of “occasional” viewers at 5.0% and 5.1% respectively.
“Sport has always been a key program area for both FTA and Pay TV with the major football codes delivering the large audiences and marketing synergies that advertisers want," Michael Duncan, Media Director, at Roy Morgan Research said Saturday.
“With the telecast rights for AFL and NRL both up for negotiation soon, all television operators will undoubtedly compete vigorously for these valuable rights."
“As well as providing information on the television profiles of the various football codes our database also supplies detailed insights and analysis at both a code and club level enabling us to see the distinct differences in the supporter base by football code and club.”
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2010/1210/These are all the TV free-to-air and pay-tv totals for all AFL and NRL games for 2010.
The TV figures are as follows:
AFLAFL home and away season:
71,312,000 over 176 games - an average of 405,181 per game
AFL Finals
14,027,000 over 10 games - an average of 1,402,000 per game
AFL Home and away season plus finals
85,339,000 over 186 games - an average of 458,811 per game
An AFL telecast goes for three hours, so over all 186 games that means 256,017,000 cumulative hours were viewed.
NRLNRL home and away season:
64,925,000 over 192 games - an average of 338,151 per game
NRL Finals
8,511,000 over 9 games - an average of 945,666 per game
NRL Home and away season plus finals
73,466,000 over 201 games - an average of 365,502 per game
An NRL telecast goes for two hours, so over all 201 games that means 146,872,000 cumulative hours were viewed.
The breakdown is:- the average AFL game has 25.52% more viewers than the average NRL game.
When taking into account the extra hour that an AFL game goes for, the hours of AFL that was watched on TV in 2010 was 72% more than the number of hours watched of the NRL in 2010.
The 256,017,000 hours of AFL watched in 2010 is 72% more than the 146,872,000 hours of the NRL that were watched in 2010.
I should add that the regional figures are not included, because they are not available. Regional figures make up about 30% of the TV audience, and are bigger in NRL areas. Although there is a 500,000 catchment in regional WA that doesn't get shown in most regional figures.
The irony is, if you take into account the extra running time of an AFL telecast the "hours viewed" in the regional areas is probably about the same between the NRL and the AFL.
At any rate, the AFL has a far bigger audience. And that audience is generated with many games going head to head. The NRL's smaller audience is generated with every game being in a seperate timeslot to maximise the audience!
http://www.talkingfooty.com/tv_ratings_2010.phphttp://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19572098&postcount=5
