2024 State of the Game: Australian Football League (AFL)

By almost every measure the AFL has had a sterling year, with attendance, membership, participation and television viewing reaching unprecedented numbers.

Attendance

Attendance is the AFLs bread and butter, and I doubt theres anyone who seriously believes that they have a serious rival in crowd terms. A record 8.29 million people attended the entire season at an average of 38,383 per match , including a record 7.756 million who attended the home and away season at a record average of 36,181.

Rounds 1, 7 and 8 all passed 400,000 attendees – out of 4 times in the entire history of the competition. They are the three highest attended rounds of all time.
The Average round attendance at Round 23 was 324,026 – the highest round average of all time, beating 2023 by 14,000, and the third time ever that the round average was over 300,000 for the year (the other was 2019)
Round 23 was the 16th time in the season that 300,000 people had attended matches – the most ever and beating 2023 when the AFL had 15 rounds that recorded more than 300,000.
Round 7 was the best attended home and away round at the MCG of all time with 292,311 across the four matches. (Average 73,077 per match)
Round 8 had the best attendance for a Carlton v Collingwood fixture
Round 23 had the highest Showdown crowd in 8 years.

The Finals were attended by 534,520 at an average of 59,391 – down on last year, but due mostly to the lesser amount of MCG finals. The Grand Final was attended by 100,013.

The Cats/Lions Preliminary Final was the third largest non GF Final attendance at the MCG (93,066)

According to Roy Morgan Research, 3.668 million people claim to have attended an AFL match in the year preceeding June 2024.

Membership

The AFL set a membership record in 2024 of 1,319,687. Of the total number of members, 241,410 are new members to a club.

Eight clubs achieved 10%+ membership growth on their 2023 tally – Adelaide (10.1%), Brisbane (15.7%), Carlton (11.6%), Geelong (10.5%), Gold Coast SUNS (12%), GWS GIANTS (10.9%), Sydney (12.9%) and the Western Bulldogs (10.7%).

See also: AFL Members 1984-2024

Social Media

Collingwood continue to lead the way for the AFL on social media with 1.232 million followers across facebook, instagram, twitter (x) and tiktok. Hawthorn was the big mover in 2024, gaining 20% while GWS (17%), Gold Coast (14%) and Sydney (11%) also record double digit growth and propelling the league to an 8.8% increase on 2023.

It should be noted that this was measured on September 19th – the Lions have added 27,000 followers in 2 weeks since.

Supporters

According to Roy Morgan Research 9.973 million people claim to support an AFL team.

The Swans and Lions are the top 2 teams for support according to the Survey, while Collingwood lead the rest in third. A majority of 13 of the AFL’s 18 clubs had an increase in support over the last year.

Club Brand Value and Strength

Brand Finance released its brand evaluations in October 2024.

Commercial Revenue

Participation

The AFL reports that participationin Australian Rules Football has exceeded more than 528,000 in 2024, breaking the AFL’s all-time registered participation record of 526,000 set last year.

The 2024 total figure includes registered participants across community football (junior, youth and senior levels), AFL Nines, NAB AFL Auskick and the newly introduced, NAB AFL Superkick.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory have seen the largest participation spikes of 13 and nine per cent respectively, with girls now making up more than 40 per cent of Auskickers in the NT and the number of junior footballers in Tassie’s local leagues boosted by nine per cent.

In Queensland numbers are up six per cent which comes off the back of consecutive record years, while New South Wales have held their 2023 numbers, to collectively boast a combined total of more than 120,000 participants. The Sunshine State has already hit more than 64,000 registered players and NSW more than 56,500, making up almost 25 per cent of the overall national total.

Traditional footy heartland in Victoria (222,000), Western Australia (84,500) and South Australia (64,000) continue to drive strong participation numbers across all levels of footy, while women and girls now account for 20 per cent of all community football registrations nationally.

The 2024 Ausplay results arent out yet, but for 2022-2023, Ausplay estimates organised participation for Australian football was 641,000 adults.

Television

This was the last year of the extension portion of the adjusted 2018-22 deal, the last two years of which were valued at $476 million per year. From next year, there will be some changes, including a massive increase in the rights money for the league.

More than 60 million people watched the football on Seven over the course of the season at an average of 406,000 per match. A further 82 million watched the home and away season on Foxtels various media arms.

According to data collected by Roy Morgan Research, 8.896 million people claim to have watched an AFL game on Television in the year preceeding June 2024.

Seven Network

The Home and away season was watched by more than 47.669 million viewers at an average of 346,000 on Seven – with a broadcast average of 497,000 and reach average of 1.472m – although almost a quarter of the season went unrated on VOZ.

According to the Australian Financial Review, Sevens average for the home and away season was 547,000. We believe this to be Sevens prime time coverage, and not including its local broadcasts that are Foxtel produced.

ANZAC Day rated 896,000 on VOZ to be the top rating match on Seven for the season with a reach of 1.989 million. Carlton and Collingwood in Round 8 were the only other regular season match to reach 800,000 with 819,000 tuning in.

Pies/Cats 786,000
Blues/Tigers 738,000
Pies/Dees 730,000
Pies/Bombers 729,000
Swans/Dees 720,000

Thursday nights on Seven averaged 647,000 viewers, while Friday nights average 639,000 viewers.

The Final series rated 11.977m on Seven at an average audience of 1.330m with an average reach of 2.994m per match. Sevens average during the first three weeks of the finals series was 998,000.

The Grand final on Seven watched by an average audience of 4.024m, with a reach of 6.087m. It was the highest rating program of 2024 at the time, and the best rating grand final since 2016.

Foxtel Group

Foxtel Group announced that the 2024 season was the most watched of all time on its platforms, with 2024 being the third consecutive year of growth.

Prior to the Finals Foxtel reported its average AFL audience to be 397,000 per match across Foxtels set top boxes and streaming services.

Kayo Sports saw 6.1 billion minutes streamed this season, up 39 per cent year-on-year.

By August, the AFL 2024 season had seen an increase of 33% on 2023, with an average audience of 397,000. The Fremantle vs Port Adelaide game led the season with an average audience of 710,000 across Kantar STB and streaming VPM, closely followed by the Carlton vs St Kilda game at 685,000.

Oztams reports indicate an average streaming audience of 241,000 – although 37 of 207 matches in the season went unreported on Oztams top 30.

Fremantle v Port Adelaide and Carlton v St Kilda in round 24 were the most watched regular season games in 2024 and of all time across Foxtel Group. ound 24 was also the most streamed round of the season on Kayo Sports while Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon were the most watched teams across Foxtel Group platforms.

Collectively, the 2024 season recorded nine of the top 10 most-watched regular season rounds of all time across the Foxtel Group.

On Foxtels streaming arms , Oztam reports indicate the first 3 weeks of finals rated 3.278m at an average of 410,000 per match. Data for set top boxes is not available at time of writing.

Opening Round

All 4 matches of Opening Round were virtually sold out. with 116,700 attending the 4 matches of “Round 0” at an average of 29,175, using 90% of available capacity.

Swans/Demons 40,012 at the MCG
Lions/Blues 33,367 at the Gabba
Suns/Tigers 22,086 at People First Stadium
Giants/Pies 21,235 at Sydney Showground

The Seven Network declared Opening round was a hit reaching 4.2 million people across Channel 7 and 7mate.

Seven’s coverage of the AFL season opener between the Swans and Demons on Thursday
night reached 2.3 million viewers nationally. The gripping game peaked at 977,000 viewers nationally, with an average national audience of 702,000, up 10% compared to the 2023 AFL season average.

The Friday night match between Brisbane and Carlton reached 1.99 million. It peaked at
997,000 viewers, and drew an average national audience of 638,00.

The GWS Giants and Collingwood clash on Saturday night reached 1.71 million people, peaked at 671,000 viewers and had an average national audience of 509,000.

Whether Opening Round goes ahead is likely with tweaks, despite misgivings – News Limited reporting that clubs were told it would go ahead – Andrew Dillon told the clubs that on every metric Sydney, Gold Coast, GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions had prospered because of the earlier start to the year and stand-alone games.

Gather Round

In an interview with Mediaweek, Foxtels Martin Medcraf said that in early April, the second annual AFL Gather Round broke AFL streaming records across Kayo Sports, with a record of 252 million minutes viewed. This made the 2024 Gather Round the #1 streamed AFL round of all time.

The economic contribution of the second Gather Round was estimated to be $91.6 million and is a 10 per cent increase on the inaugural Gather Round in 2023, while the total number of visitor nights increased by 40,209.

A total of 265,011 attended the sold out four-day footy festival from April 4 to 7, with 33 per cent being interstate visitors

The second Gather Round attracted 45,847 visitors to South Australia, and supported 655 full-time equivalent jobs, according to analysis by IER. The research found that around 93 per cent of these visitors spent at least one night in South Australia, with interstate visitors spending on average 4.5 nights in South Australia. IER’s analysis shows that of the 191,669 visitor nights created, 52,026 were outside of the city.

Economic data reveals more than $17.6 million was spent in the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters during the 2024 AFL Gather Round weekend – up from $14.2 million the year prior, according to Spendmapp data.

The 2025 AFL Gather Round will run from Thursday 10 through to Sunday 13 April, coinciding with school holidays across the country so more families can get amongst the footy action in South Australia. The Barossa Valley will host AFL Premiership matches for the first time, with facilities at Lyndoch Recreation Park presently being upgraded.

Queensland

The Lions sold out the Gabba 8 times in the 2024 season, including 4 consecutive games of 30,000+ at the end of the season, on their way to a premiership. Gabba crowds this year have averaged 30,784 – up on the 2023 figure of 30,320, which included two Gabba finals.

The Lions also announced a new club membership record with 63,268 fans signing on as members in season 2024 – over 15% growth this season (up from 54,676 in 2023). The Lions have about 10,000 members in Melbourne.

According to Roy Morgan, theres been significant growth in support for the Queensland sides,

The Suns had a promising start to the season, averaging 16,130 in their first 5 games to give them their best start since 2021. They finished the season with four sellout crowds at People First Stadium.

The Gold Coast SUNS have set a new membership record for the fifth consecutive year, registering 26,157 members in 2024 – this year’s number marking a 12% increase on the 2023 total of 23,359, and 91% growth since 2019.

NSW

The Swans and Giants both finished the season with a record number of paying members – 73,757 and 36,629, respectively. The Swans have about 10,000 members in Melbourne

The Swans average crowd for the season was 38,202, and the club says it sold-out five of its 11 home matches.

The Swans also said they set records for Melbourne membership growth and merchandise sales. Revenue is up 47 per cent on last year’s result – $61.8 million – and it sold 17,000 Swans scarves this year alone.

The Giants, which have competed in seven of the last nine finals series, experienced a 19.7 per cent year-on-year increase in average attendance this season – although crowds are still modest by Victorian standards.

The club, which played its first season in 2012, says consumer revenue – merchandise, membership and ticketing – has grown by 50 per cent since 2022. It made $2 million from memberships that year (it does not break out ticketing in its annual report).

Tasmania

The League has announced that, subject to meeting targets and goals, Tasmania will receive its own AFL (announced in May last year) team from 2029. The team was announced as the Devils on March 18.

Since then, the Tasmanian Government has been trying to get the Stadium at MacPoint and the training facility locked down. The Stadiums oponents include the Tasmanian RSL (view/atmosphere) and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (vibration and location).

The Stadium is now subject to Parliamentary scrutiny due to being labelled a project of significance. The Tasmanian Government is adamant that the funding will not increase from the Government, despite recent reports saying it will need more funding. The Government remains convinced it will be able to find private partners in the venue.

There is also a proposed alternative that currently has no support from the Federal and State Governments or the AFL, however is purported to have its own billion dollar backer. The proposal is currently before an independent committee.

The proposed training centre at Rosny Park remains in limbo. However an elector poll that found a majority of residents support building an AFL high-performance centre within the Rosny Parklands.

The poll asked two questions, with the first receiving 51.39% ‘yes’ votes in favour of building the centre entirely within Rosny Parklands and the second receiving 35.17% ‘yes’ votes for building it across both Rosny Parklands and Charles Hand Park.

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