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AFL season kicks off to 668,000 metro viewers as Seven wins the night

The 2021 AFL season debuted overnight with 668,000 viewers tuning into Seven across metro markets (and 885,000 nationally) as Richmond defeated Carlton in Melbourne.

Seven’s AFL: Thursday Night Football was the fifth-ranked program of the night, only behind news programming, while the post-match show brought in 520,000 metro viewers as well.

The AFL’s viewership was more than enough to beat Nine’s broadcast of the NRL, as 425,000 metro viewers (and 663,000 nationally) watched the Eels pip the storm in a thriller at Western Sydney Stadium.

The AFL’s season debut also topped the NRL’s recent season launch, which last week brought in 463,000 metro viewers, and 747,000 around the country.

The game’s broadcast also won the three key advertising demographics, followed by the post-match, which ranked second in all three demos.

The return of the AFL was also enough to deliver Seven a network win, with a 33.8% share, ahead of Nine’s 25.0%, Ten’s 18.8% and the ABC with 15%.

7mate, which aired the AFL broadcast in markets including Sydney and Brisbane, was the top rating multi-channel with 4.5% share.

The number one metro program of the night went to Nine News, with 824,000 metro viewers, ahead of Seven News with 817,000 metro viewers.

Ten’s offering of Gogglebox Australia in the 8:30pm time slot was enough to deliver it the top rating entertainment program of the night, with 483,000 metro viewers tuning in to the show. It ranked third in all three key advertising demographics.

The next-best entertainment programs of the night were Seven Network’s The Chase Australia with 423,000 metro viewers, while ABC TV’s Back Roads and Nine’s Hot Seat both brought in 401,000 across metro markets.

Seven’s Wife Swap Australia, which aired at 7:30pm in markets including Sydney and Brisbane, brought in 172,000 metro viewers.

Hear from the AFL’s head of marketing and content, Julian Dunne about the season launch.

*OzTam’s figures below for the Top 15 metro shows overnight do not take into account multi-channel viewers for Nine’s Thursday Night NRL Live which aired on Gem in markets other than Sydney and Brisbane.

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