Channel Seven boss James Warburton has renewed the network’s push for the AFL grand final to be played either at twilight or at night after Saturday’s return to a traditional afternoon timeslot at the MCG produced a slump in television and streaming ratings.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan had hoped the big Sydney market and Lance Franklin’s box office power would lead to record-breaking ratings but the lopsided contest contributed to a smaller audience than expected.
Sydney viewers switched off early.Credit:Getty Images
Geelong’s 81-point win, which was set up with a dominant opening term by the Cats, contributed to a five-city metro audience of 2.179 million which is the second-lowest recorded on OzTam ratings, just ahead of the 2.171 million five-city metro viewership when Essendon beat Carlton in 1993.
Seven’s national audience (which combines metro and regional numbers) of 5.76 million and national average of 3.06 million were, as expected, down on the past two pandemic grand finals. They were played interstate, beamed in prime time into the eastern states and boosted by Melbourne audiences being in lockdown.
There were 1.066 million viewers in Melbourne for Saturday’s grand final and 375,000 in Sydney.
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Seven Plus drew 95,000 viewers who streamed the grand final accounting for 14 million minutes streaming time. This compared with 197,000 viewers on Seven Plus for last year’s grand final.
Seven said the grand final was still the number one TV program of the ratings survey year using overnight audiences.
The national audience figures were an improvement on the Richmond versus GWS Giants decider in 2019 which was the last afternoon game played at the MCG.
Originally published at Sydney News HQ
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