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NRL final scores 2.41m

The 2009 NRL Grand Final topped 2.41m but avoiding the Presentation in Melbourne furthers the Pay TV argument to give sports more comprehensive coverage.

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msThe 2009 NRL Grand Final topped 2.41m last night pushing Nine to a big win for Sunday.

The match was significantly higher than the 2008 final of 2.07m. In Sydney 1.11m viewers watched on, while Melbourne had 650,000 -more than Brisbane’s 535,000.

Nine says it peaked at 3.09m viewers.

But in Melbourne, talkback callers today were angry over Nine’s switch to Nine News before the Presentation to the Storm team. In reality, the Presentation was never scheduled in that city. But at a time when the Anti-Siphoning List is being reviewed, it furthers the arguments in the Pay TV camp to give sports more comprehensive coverage.

The match gave Nine’s other shows a big boost including Nine News 1.84m and 60 Minutes 1.4m. But Nine needs to look closely at the drop for Rescue: Special Ops, down to 956,000 after a solid lead in. Either the timeslot is wrong or people haven’t warmed to the show. Or both.

Also strong was Midsomer Murders 1.35m for the ABC while Who Do You think You Are? held most of its 402,000 at SBS.

TEN had a tough night, fending off the NRL and the impact of daylight saving. Australian Idol sat at 926,000. Once again the first solo singer didn’t take to the stage until 8pm. Considering the softer lead in Rove‘s retention of 712,000 was not too bad. The 16.4% share for the night must be one of its lowest Sundays all year -well behind the ABC.

With a public holiday in NSW on Monday figures were generally down across the board. They will be huge tonight as the city settles in early for the working week.

Seven had different movies in different cities but it did best with Seven News at 1.26m.

Wipeout was well down this week on GO! at 164,000, no doubt with sports fans watching NRL.

With another Hey Hey special this week, Nine will be the one to beat this week.

Week 41

35 Responses

  1. Hey David, I think it might be worth looking into this ratings claim by the Daily Telegraph and media writer Holly Brynes. They claim the NRL Grand Final had a bigger national average ratings audience than the AFL Grand Final, as noted below this information has since been repeated on other media outlets such as Sydney AM radio… but it all looks like BS to me.

    “More people watched NRL grand final on television than watched AFL grand final ” By Holly Byrnes, Media Writer, The Daily Telegraph ,October 06, 2009 12:00AM

    “The combined national and regional TV audience figures for the Geelong Cats v St Kilda Grand Final, spruiked (sic) at the time by the code’s boss Demetriou as a benchmark, averaged 3.4 million….But the league finale went better, attracting an average 3.6 million people across the country.”

    Thing is, data avaliable online from Nielsen and OzTam reveal a different picture:
    Regional figures for 2009 AFL Grand Final (Qld/Nrth NSW/Sth NSW/Vic/Tas) = 969,000
    5 Capital City figures for 2009 AFL Grand Final (Syd/Mel/Bris/Ad/Per) =
    2,878,000
    For a national average total of 3,847,000 viewers.

    So where does the Daily Telegraph and Holly Byrnes get the “3.4 million” average for the 2009 AFL Grand Final when the ratings agencies say it was 3.847 million people watching? And where does Holly/Daily Telegraph get the NRL Grand Final ratings for regional Australia when this information is yet to appear?

    One for ABC’s Media Watch perhaps.

  2. daqua_99 says: . Heck, we know that the NRL is second to the AFL in terms of crowds, viewers and supporters nationally

    Well, maybe not viewers anymore. Kenny Sutcliffe on 2UE just said the AFL got 3.4m viewers national, NRL got 3.5m.

  3. @ r c jo and jane c

    The only problem I have is that AFL fans think that the NRL is a load of crap and has no god points going for it. Heck, we know that the NRL is second to the AFL in terms of crowds, viewers and supporters nationally, but we also know that the NRL is dominant over the AFL in Sydney and Brisbane.

    It seems that the AFL fans are completely writing the NRL off as something inferior. Just because it isn’t rating as well doesn’t mean it is an inferior sport to the AFL. I like the NRL better than the AFL, but I’m not bashing the AFL in terms of quality.

  4. After reading the posts below and hearing both sides, it does seem rugby league fans do have some sort of inferiority issues. If you lose the ratings get over it and pick yourself up off the floor and don’t be bitter, otherwise you will continue to live a sad life.

  5. The AFL beats the NRL every year in all indicators. And the NRL people always feel insecure and inferior and need to find some hidden statistic to make themselves feel better. When you include all the FTA games throughout the year, the AFL absolutely pounds the NRL. And lets not even mention the most important indicator of all which are crowds Its the same pattern every year. And remember News LTD owns the NRL, league still cannot supports itself, what kind of game is that you have to ask!.

  6. @ Ryano Why not end the anti-siphoning laws and put the AFL on foxtel … only 1.4 million people from Melbourne watched it, and it had two teams from Melbourne in the Grand Final. Only having 1.4 million from the main city of the game, where two teams were centered, means that the majority of people from Melbourne couldn’t care about the sport and it should go on Foxtel.

    You say the NRL is around just for News Corp and Telstra. Agreed they are large stakeholders but that doesn’t mean that the game is any worse off for it. I mean the AFL has sponsors, as does every sport. The NRL is here to stay. Build a bridge, get over it.

  7. PD: those figures are only for the five metro markets and don’t include regional markets.

    When you consider in NSW alone the Wollongong area to the South of Sydney and the Newcastle area and the Central coast to the North have larger populations than Canberra and probably Hobart, to not include regional numbers is stupid ( especially when funnily enough a lot of people outside of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth etc also buy stuff from companies that like to advertise their products).

    National figures including regional areas:

    NRL – 3.490 million
    AFL – 3.47 million

  8. Great to see Melbourne win!!! Loved the anti-Melbourne commentary and the constant booing from the Parra supporters.

    It’s outrageous that Nine didn’t show the presentation and should have at least shown it on GO!

    Also, showing live games into Melbourne on Friday and Sunday during the regular season would be a ratings disaster as the target audience is watching the AFL

  9. Yes I love ONE as well. I’d possibly get into Rugby a bit more as well if their was more free to air prime time coverage. I mean that’s what the multi channels are for. Maybe TEN/ ONE HD should go for the next NRL TV rights especially if they don’t get the AFL. Even ONE showed a classic NBA gane the other night. Good job ONE.

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