2024 Australian Sport TV Ratings

Australian sport combined to delivered 504.413 million viewers across the country on free to air broadcasting more than 905 live game events in the 2024 Calendar year (aggregated average viewers). Of those 45.709 million (9.06%) were watching on free to air streaming channels, including Cricket for the first time. And these are just the ones we know about.

On Foxtel streaming services (Go/Now/Kayo), Oztam reported 140.628m aggregated average viewers, across 717 live sporting events.

Before we go further, please note all Data comes from VOZ, and the daily top 30 consolidated ratings list, as well as Oztams VPM ratings (now unfortunately discontinued) and their top 20 weekly lists. For sports like the NRL, Super Rugby and Aleague, please note that ratings from NZ, PNG, Fiji and elsewhere are pretty thin on the ground, and so international ratings may not be present in this article. Further Foxtel data for set top boxes is basically non existent with only scattered details available. As usual, silence emanates from Paramount, Stan and Optus Sport.

The Top Ratings

While the AFL Grand Final was the clear winner for Seven, the FTA top Ten list is dominated by Rugby league (3 x Origins and 1x Grand Final) and Olympic coverage. (Seven notes that its AFL Grand FInal surrounding coverage also makes the list, but we havent included pre,post, breaks or non live match coverage). The Melbourne cup comes in at 11th

Olympic coverage dominates the top 20 and top 30, with 25 programmes inside the top 40.

If you remove Olympic coverage (as Seven did in its 2024 coverage release), the top Ten also includes the Melbourne Cup, and Cricket, but the Nine network still wins 7-3.

With The Olympics gone, the top 20 is largely Cricket – the fourth test is still to be consolidated – and Test cricket makes up half the entries in the top 40.

Top rated events per Sport

With Foxtels streaming ratings, the Top 10 is dominated by the AFL, thanks to some big finals, and blockbuster viewing in the last round – the AFL takes 8 of the top 10

The AFL makes up 12 of the top 20, and the AFL and NRL split the honours at 20 matches each inside the top 40,

Womens Sport

Sports

Australian Football reported a total of 109 broadcast fixtures on Foxfooty- not individual matches – in Sevens free to air VOZ data at 60.929m with an average rating of 559,000 per match. AFL matches contributed 102 broadcasts with total viewing of 59 million. Womens football contributed 6 matches for 1.189m at an average of 198,000.

Many matches were not rated by VOZ, particularly womens matches and single market broadcasts.

Foxfooty reported 165 matches with 41.474m viewers at an average of 251,000 per match. AFL matches made up 164 of these with an average of 253,000 per match. A further 2.33m watched 14 AFL matches on Foxsports 503 at an average of 166,000 per match, for a total of 179 matches at 43.807m with a 245,000 average audience.

About a quarter of the AFL season was unrated by Oztams streaming service.

Fox Group did release some data two weeks before finals that showed an AFL match average across set top box and streaming of 397,000 per game.

Martin Medcraf, Foxtel Media sport sales and partnerships director to Mediaweek: “ The AFL 2024 season has seen an increase of 33% on 2023, with an average audience of 397,000. Last Sunday’s 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.”

Foxtel Group has announced that the 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership Season is the most watched of all time across its platforms – Foxtel, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go and Kayo Sports. It is the third consecutive year of viewership growth. the 2024 season recorded nine of the top 10 most-watched regular season rounds of all time across the Foxtel Group.

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 as audiences flocked to our platforms to see which teams would make the final eight in 2024. Round 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. (In June, Foxtel noted that AFL 2024 hadalready achieved the five largest regular season round audiences of all-time across the Foxtel Group)

Kayo Sports saw 6.1 billion minutes streamed this season, up 39 per cent year-on-year. More than half of total Foxtel Group audiences watched the season on Kayo Sports.

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.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo noted that the total AFL aggregate viewership for the year was 140.3 million.

AFLW

The 2024 AFLW season was the highest streamed of all time across Foxtel Group platforms Kayo Sports, Foxtel Go, Foxtel Now and BINGE, up 61% year-on-year. Across the season, 179 million minutes were streamed.

Set top box on Foxtel were also up, growing 12% year-on-year. Total Fox group audiences grew 29% year-on-year. The 2024 season was the best performing across Foxtel Group since 2018.

Rugby League

Rugby League reported 72.877 million viewers from 115 fixtures on Nines free to air coverage at an average of 634,000 per match, with the NRL season accounting for 91 fixtures at an average of 583,000 for a total of 53.076m.

Womens league add 1.93m million viewers to the total – with many matches not rated, while representative league added 16.543m viewers on Nine.

On Foxtels streaming services, League added 60.866 million viewers at an average of 251,000 across 243 rated fixtures. Many womens matches went unrated here.

Fox Group did release some data two weeks before finals that showed an NRL match average across set top box an streaming of 483,000 per game.

Martin Medcraf, Foxtel Media sport sales and partnerships director to Mediaweek: “NRL rounds 1-25 followed suit with an average audience of 483,000, +18% from last season”.

Foxtel Group also announced that the 2024 NRL Telstra Premiership Season has broken records as the most watched of all time across its platforms – Foxtel, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go and Kayo Sports. It is the seventh consecutive year of viewership growth.

Kayo Sports viewership surged 30% year on year. There were five billion minutes streamed across all Foxtel Group streaming platforms which was up 30% compared to 2023. A huge 59% of the total Foxtel Group audience streamed the coverage.

In 2024, NRL kicked off its season in Las Vegas with the Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs game, exclusive on Fox League, followed by the Roosters v Broncos game. Both games smashed viewership records and are the two most watched games of all time across Foxtel Group platforms. The coverage, which was Logie-nominated, also drove the biggest single day of sign-ups on Kayo Sports.

Magic Round recorded the highest audience ever for a regular season round across the Foxtel Group with an average audience of 545,000.

Raiders v Bulldogs 592,000.
Sharks v Roosters 664,000
Storm v Eels 589,000

Andrew Abdo noted in an AFR interview that NRL total ratings were 153.7 million viewers, compared to the AFL’s 140.3 million

Origin 2024

The three game Mens series, which averaged 3.409 million viewers per match (up 14.9% year-on-year), ranks as the three highest rating programs of the year (based on overnight figures). The series recorded an average BVOD audience of 788,000 per match – up an incredible 50.4% year-on-year.

Origin I rated 3.396 million across the Nine Network with 768,000 watching on 9NOW. The match reached 5.269 million viewers nationally. The Metro viewing audience was 2.256 million and was the number 1 program in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on the night. (including BVOD)
Origin II rated 3.208 million across the Nine Network with 748,000 watching on 9NOW. The match reached 5.19 million viewers nationally. It was the number one program for the night in Sydney (902,000) and Brisbane (538,000), and number two in Adelaide (86.000) and Perth (116,000). The Melbourne audience was 258,000. It was the highest rating Origin II since 2017.
Origin III rated 3.610 million across the Nine Network, with 882,000 watching on 9NOW. The match reached 5.389 million viewers nationally. In the metro 5 city catchment, ratings totaled 2,373,000 – this included 1,750,000 broadcast and 623,000 BVOD viewers.

Womens Origin

The first ever 3 match Women’s State of Origin Series recorded a series average Total TV Audience of over 1 Million, up 67.8% year-on-year and a series average BVOD audience of 165,000, up 156.9% year-on-year.

Origin 1 rated 977,000, including 136,000 on 9NOW with a national reach of 2.11 million.
Origin II rated 1.083 million, including 172,000 on 9NOW with a national reach of 2.12 million.
Origin III rated 1.101 million, including 183,000 on 9NOW with a national reach of 2.205 million.

Pacific Championships

The 2024 Pacific Championships delivering record-breaking attendance and viewership, with a total audience of 6.2m across all tournaments, marking a significant 40% YoY increase;
The Pacific Cup final between Australia and Tonga drawing 1m viewers – a 79% increase on the 2023 decider between the Kangaroos and Kiwis;
The Kangaroos vs Kiwis Test in Christchurch attracting 545k viewers on FTA and nearly 1m views across all platforms, surpassing last year’s corresponding match by 22% and exceeding both Bledisloe Cup fixtures earlier this year, which attracted 477k and 283k FTA viewers respectively;

Womens Pacific Championships

The Pacific Cup final between the Jillaroos and Kiwi Ferns attracting 353k viewers;
The Jillaroos achieving an average viewership of 274k throughout the tournament;
1.4m people tuning in to watch the women’s Pacific Championships;
Average viewership for the women’s Pacific Bowl matches increasing by 18% from last year’s tournament, underscoring the growing support of the women’s international game.

BBL 2023-24

Despite a large number of rain-affected matches, BBL|13 reached 9.4 million people
nationally, including 6.3 million in the capital cities.

The BBL’s national season average was 492,000 viewers. Seven’s BBL audience was up
3% nationally year-on-year and up 7% in the capital cities, including a 33% jump in Brisbane
and a 10% lift in Adelaide.

A thrilling 2023/24 KFC Big Bash League has seen record streaming audiences on Kayo Sports. Viewership data from games 1-37 of the regular season shows a 16 per cent growth YoY, making it the most streamed BBL series of all time. In total there were more than 558 million minutes streamed across live action, pre and post-game coverage and short-form content including Kayo Minis.

Aaron Finch’s farewell captured the hearts and minds of Kayo subscribers with more than 170,000 people streaming his final BBL innings against the Melbourne Stars, exclusive to Fox Cricket – culminating in the #1 streaming audience of all time for a regular season game.

BBL 2024-25

The first four days of BBL 14 reached 4.9 million people on Seven, with an average total TV audienceof 564,000 – up 16% on the first four days of BBL 13. Broadcast viewing alone was up 9%.

Test Cricket

In the 2024-25 Summer, the clash at Perth Stadium between the giants of world cricket in the first of five Tests delivered an average total TV audience of 663,000, including 1.01 million for the third session on day three and 997,000 for the third session on the first day.

Seven’s coverage Third Test at the Gabba reached 5.9 million people and drew an average total TV audience of 647,000. The big-rating sessions included the third session on day two, which had an average total TV audience of 1.29 million, and the second session on day two, with 1.03 million.

The Boxing Day Test between Australia and India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series captured an average total TV audience of 1.3 million, up 56% on last year. The 1.64 million total TV audience for the third session on day four was a record result for any Test session on Seven.

So far, 2.2 million people have watched the Australia v India Test series on 7plus Sport, and
it has brought in 100,000 new registered users for 7plus.

Tennis – Australian Open

12.857 million were reached across the 9Network’s coverage of AO 2024, an increase of nine per cent year on year.

81.5 million domestic hours viewed (TV and streaming), up 30.5 per cent year on year.
Audiences on streaming platforms continued to grow, with 17.6 per cent of all domestic hours viewed coming through 9Now and Stan – up 2.6 per cent on AO 2023
9Network enjoyed a 51.6 per cent commercial free to air share of voice in week one, up from 46.4 per cent during AO 2023.
The men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev reached 5.471 million viewers on the 9Network with a national total TV audience of 2.122 million, up 6 per cent year on year and national total TV reach of 4.767 million.
The women’s final between Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen reached 3.261 million viewers with a national peak audience on Channel 9 of 1.490 million and average audience of 1.41 million.
The Women’s Final audience was up 15% year on year across Total TV and recorded the second highest Live BVOD audience for the Women’s Final and an increase of 68% year-on-year.
The fourth round match between Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev peaked with 1.855 million viewers and average audience of 1.391 million on Channel 9. The blockbuster match helped boost the audience share among 19-39 year-olds to more than 70 per cent on the 9Network and attracted the highest ever Live BVOD audience outside of a men’s or women’s final eve

NBL

Opening round attendance and tv viewing soared across all subscription and streaming platforms in a record-breaking opening round, with an added record of the most attendees in League history. The seven games broadcast from Thursday to Sunday achieved more than 40% year-on-year increase in average audience on ESPN, via KAYO and Foxtel.

The Melbourne United v Tasmania JackJumpers Championship Series headlined the League’s incredible growth, with broadcast ratings up 52% on last season’s Series, including a jump in viewership on Game 5 – a 35% increase on last year.

The broadcast ratings across the entire season increased by 26%, including a more than 27% jump across the Finals.

SuperNetball

The 2024 Suncorp Super Netball season has emerged as the most watched season in history on the Foxtel Group‘s linear and streaming platforms, including Foxtel, Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, and Foxtel Go.

This milestone marks the third consecutive year of viewership growth for the league. Streaming audiences have notably increased for three straight years, with 63% of viewers now accessing netball content on Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, and Foxtel Go.

Over the course of the season and the finals series, more than 210 million minutes were streamed across all matches.

In June Foxtel noted that

Super Netball’s opening round achieved the highest opening round of all time
Super Netball achieved its biggest audience ever for a game during the Vixens v Fever game in round 7
The 2024 Super Netball regular season has produced the top five regular season rounds in the history of Super Netball’s partnership with Foxtel Group
The 2024 Super Netball season has produced the top 10 individual regular season match audience since the start of its broadcast partnership with Foxtel Group in 2022

Racing

Seven’s Spring Racing Carnival coverage, which includes celebrated meets on the Australian thoroughbred racing calendar and a procession of Group 1 races, has scored an average national total TV audience of 178,000.

Everest Day at Royal Randwick and the Caulfield Cup at Caulfield Racecourse reached 1.39 million people and had an average audience of 557,000. The Big Dance day at Royal Randwick reached 1.51 million, with an average audience of 192,000, while the Cox Plate at Mooney Valley reached 1.04 million with an average audience of 162,000 and the Golden Eagle day at Rosehill Gardens reached 1 million and had an average audience of 119,000.

Nine’s coverage of the Lexus Melbourne Cup on 5 November attracted a National Total TV average Audience of 1.910 million viewers, marking an 11.3% increase compared to last year.

Formula one

In June, Fox reported that The 2024 F1™ season has delivered two of the top 10 race audiences since Foxtel Group started exclusively broadcasting the rights in 2017. The 2024 F1® Australian Grand Prix streaming audiences were up four per cent year on year.

References

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