64% of Aussie population watched Matildas, new Deakin research claims
Seven smashed television ratings records last week with their broadcast of the Matildas’ World Cup showdown against England, but new data from Deakin University claims the viewership figures for the game were far higher than reported.
Dr Hunter Fujak, a lecturer in sports management at Deakin University, combined the official viewership figures from last Wednesday’s match with those watching from pubs, clubs, through Optus Sport, and at dozens of ‘live sites’ across Australia.
Fujak found that the cumulative reach of the Matildas game across Channel 7, Optus Sport, venues and live sites was 17.15 million people.
“This represents approximately 64% of the entire Australian population,” Fujak explains.
Isn’t it convenient that if you add the 11.15m TV viewers, plus the 3.01m ‘pub/club’ viewers, plus the 1.74m Optus Streams, plus the 1.25m live attendees adds up to … 17.15m … that is the same as the good Doctor’s “cumulative reach of the Matildas game … 17.15 million people.”
The first thing you learn in Media 101 is that you NEVER accumulate the data and call it the reach without de-duplicating the data sources.
In essence the statement made means that EVERY PERSON who watched on Seven or Seven+ did NOT view at a pub or club AND did NOT watch any Optus streams AND did NOT actually go to any of the games. The same goes for any order of the four viewing options.
And oddly the data from the n=1,564 EDM/Online survey was not reported.
Yet oddly the claim is made that the “current TV ratings system is outdated” with its measly 20,000+ people’s usage tracked every minute of every day. They are then reported as the AVERAGE audience (e.g. you only count as half a person if you only watch half the program) and not the “I watched part of it’ but are treated as though they are a full-time viewer as commonly happens.