The 2022 AFL Finals Series has kicked goals on the Seven Network, with the Friday and Saturday night Semi-Finals reaching a combined 3.74 million viewers nationally.
Seven’s live and free coverage of Friday night’s Melbourne v Brisbane Lions Semi Final scored an average of 1.06 million viewers nationally. It was up 80% on the 2022 season-date average audience, up 143% in Brisbane, 91% in Melbourne, 79% in Sydney, 65% in Adelaide and 54% in Perth.
The Brisbane Lion’s thrilling victory over Melbourne was #1 in its timeslot in total people, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s and reached 2.69 million people.
The Seven Network was #1 in prime time on Friday with an unbeatable 53% commercial audience share in the capital cities in total people, 51.3% in 25 to 54s and 51.8% in 16 to 39s.
Saturday night’s clash between Collingwood and Fremantle was watched by 914,000 people nationally and dominated its timeslot in total people, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s.
The high-stakes match was up 69% on the 2022 regular season Saturday night average audience and reached 2.66 million people nationally.
Melbourne’s audience was up 84% on the 2022 season-to-date Saturday night match average audience, while the Perth audience soared 174% and Sydney was up 17%.
Seven was #1 in prime time on Saturday with a dominant 53.5% commercial audience share in the capital cities in total people, 51.6% in 25 to 54s and 53% in 16 to 39s.
Last week, the AFL secured its broadcast future until 2031 with its incumbent partners, Seven Network and Foxtel in a record-breaking deal announced today by the league and outgoing CEO, Gillon McLachlan.
After negotiating a two-year extension running until 2024, the new deal will run for a seven-year period, worth a total of $643 per year, a large increase on the $473 per year figure over the next two seasons.