AFL grand final beats State of Origin to 2017’s most-watched sports show
Richmond’s win against the Adelaide Crows during Saturday’s AFL grand final was a big win for Seven, scoring 2.801m metro viewers and 3.694m nationwide during the game’s post-match presentations.
It’s real, Richmond. #AFLGF pic.twitter.com/eNJCI840h2
— AFL (@AFL) September 30, 2017
July’s State of Origin decider drew 2.488m metro and 3.652m national viewers, meaning Seven has narrowly beaten Nine to the year’s most-watched sports show so far.
Of the record-breaking audience, 1.426 million were from Melbourne, with Sydney making up just 399,000. Meanwhile Brisbane drew in 365,000, Adelaide 323,000 and Perth 288,000.
The result was down on last year’s AFL Grand Final, when the Western Bulldogs’ clash with the Sydney Swans drew an average metro audience of 3.201m.
Seven’s broadcast dominated the day, with not a single AFL-related program achieving an audience of less than 1m, and resulting in an overall audience share of 40.2%.
Seven also won the most-watched session outside of the AFL, with 796,000 metro viewers tuning in to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.
ABC News was the next most-watched show, clocking in 754,000 metro viewers.
The news was also Nine’s most-watched Saturday show, clocking in 745,000 metro viewers and an average audience share of 23.3%.
The AFL win rounds off a winning week for Seven’s main channel, which won with a share of 31.4% over Nine’s 23.3% and Ten’s 10.7%.
Aside from the AFL shows, Seven’s Saturday news drew the biggest metro audience of the week with 1.464m.
The Wednesday, Sunday and Tuesday episodes of The Block drew in the next largest weekly audience, with metro audiences of 1.142m, 1.400m and 1.215m respectively.
This article has been amended to state the AFL Grand Final metro viewer numbers were down on last year.
Are you sure about those figures?
According to Media Week: SatTV #AFLGF Seven 3.524m: Met 2.680m (Syd 376k Mel 1.277m Bri 349k Ade 372k Per 307k) Reg 844k (Q 135k NSW 126/123k V 257k Tas 134k WA 69k)
Which means origin is still the winner?
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Hi Matt,
The figures quoted there are for the match itself, however the most-watched show of the day was the presentations.
Thanks,
Josie
AFL match was down on 2016. You have compared national to metro.
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Hi Matt,
Our numbers are: Five city AFL Grand Final 2.801 vs Origin 2.488, National AFL 3.694 vs SoG 3.652. So the AFL just edged out Origin.
Regards,
Paul Wallbank
Thanks aflcheck, you are right and we’ve corrected the story accordingly.
Regards,
Paul Wallbank
News Editor
So you’re comparing a 10 minute program (AFL presentations) with a 2hr SOO match (includes half time) ?
Well done mumbrella
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So the actual AFL Grand Final match rated under the State of Origin broadcast? Take the Melbourne goggles off Mumbrella and report the facts.
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So match for match – NRL is still the stronger game.
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So the actual state of origin game rated higher than the afl grand final. Misleading headline and incorrect. Rugby league with the highest rating sports program of the year and 3 of the top 5, great effort!
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Hi,
Origin 3 , Tennis open, and Origin 1 were the highest rating sporting events nationally in Australia. How someone can refer to a presentation as a sporting event beats me. Actually the AFL’s top rating match for the past few years has been its presentation , Doesn’t say a lot for the Australian game.
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