Despite Origin leading to a shorter round, and the AFL in the middle of its “bye rounds”, it was a jam packed Saturday.
Three AFL matches were played on the Saturday, with the Giants travelling to Launceston to face the Hawks in front of a reasonable crowd of 11,568. Later that afternoon West Coast hosted the Kangaroos at Optus Stadium in front of an excellent audience of 43,276.
Both matches were televised localled in Perth and Sydney to a combined two state audience of 145,000 on the Seven Network, and a combined reach of 467,000.
The evening game saw the Saints take on the Giants in front of a relatively paltry assembly of 17,992 at Marvel Stadium. That match drew a somewhat underwhelming audience on Seven of just 362,000 with a reach of 1.322 million. This was the lowest Saturday night audience for the AFL this year on the free to air broadcaster, despite being shown in 4 of 5 metro markets (not show in NSW/Sydney).
The NRL also played three matches on Saturday – an all Queensland affair, beginning with the Titans taking on the Rabbitohs at CBUS Super Stadium with 14,434 rapt onlookers. Staying in Queensland, the Cowboys faced down a Kiwi onslaught in front of 19,623 at QCB Stadium. Finally, the big boys on the block, the Broncos had it out with the Sharks in front of 41,004 at Suncorp Stadium.
Saturdays are exclusive to Fox at this time of the year, and unfortunately no data is immediately available regarding ratings.
