A huge portion of Aussie football fans nowadays experience matches with multiple screens open: whether on the telly or in the stadium. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets allow fans to participate no matter where they are, instead of just passively watching the game.
Social media and digital partnerships with betting platforms, dedicated sports streaming apps, and fantasy football also make new ways possible for fans to participate in the sport they love. Between these, multi-screen experiences are a norm for Aussie football games now.
Live betting: the ultimate real-time engagement
Sports betting has always been a popular way for fans to engage and participate. Betting platforms in Australia partnering with clubs extend well beyond just Sportsbet or TAB, and now include a host of new online apps and even crypto platforms for sports betting. To see the full list of the best new Australian betting sites, professional review sites are very useful and can also help players find platforms with the best features and the safest and most secure sites to play on.
Live betting for fans is perhaps the most significant second-screen innovation contributing to the excitement of Australian football in 2025. Partner platforms like TAB provide real-time AFL, NRL, and A-League gambling odds for every possession swap within a game, taking winning opportunities beyond the macro-outcomes of final game results to the micro level and continuous engagement.
In-game betting is where Sportsbet excels, offering betting aficionados the opportunity to wager on outcomes of specific moments in the game. This includes plays such as who will score the next goal or how a quarter will finish. Live plays and sports betting feedback loops that never shut down keep fans interactively engaged, creating a significant psychological investment in the game.
Fantasy football communities: more than just games
Fantasy football has created close-knit and very competitive online communities that extend far beyond simple fantasy football team management.
The AFL’s official fantasy football platform allows coaches to build teams with $17.8 million allocated for their team’s salaries. At the beginning of the Fantasy Premier League (FTL) 2024/25 season, the top 3 most expensive Aussie players were Massimo Luongo ($4.5m), Cameron Burgess ($4m), and Harry Soutar ($4m)
Specialist platforms provide online spaces for fans to bond and banter over their favourite teams, discussing players and analysing matches. Niche communities such as NRL Fantasy Fanatics offer dedicated spaces for esports and fantasy sports coaches and enthusiasts. Here, they can discuss strategy and trade players. Keeping up with the major changes and which players may be injured or doing better and worth a buy are just some of the things these forums discuss.
Fantasy football platforms also extend the game beyond the traditional Aussie football season of March to September, so engagement is kept alive all year round. Many platforms, Draftstars for one, even offer daily online games with takings of up to $50,000 up for grabs.
Beyond traditional broadcasting: streaming platforms, social media, and community building
In the early 2000s, football clubs relied mostly on ticket sales and basic television broadcasting deals. In contrast, by 2023, the AFL had expanded into a tech-driven powerhouse, reportedly generating over AUD 1.063 billion in annual revenue.
What changed? The diversity of ways people could consume and interact with content, through innovations like mobile streaming, fantasy sports platforms, and international subscription services. The more ways people can interact with the sport, the more opportunities to capitalise on.
Australian football, and global sports as a whole, for that matter, have undergone a fundamental transformation thanks to streaming. For example, Kayo Sports streams every match of every round in AFL and NRL, live and ad-free, and covers over 50 different leagues across more than a thousand events annually.
Footy fans can enjoy statistics integrated into each broadcast, multiple camera angles, and social features integrated into the app. These additional features lend an extra dimension to the game, contributing to a richer experience and deeper understanding of the sport.
Streaming platforms and apps, along with social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok, have the added advantage of their adaptability. With content on demand, fans can watch and listen to podcasts as they choose; they can revisit spectacular goals or gain access to intricate real-time data and statistics.
This level of information is something that traditional mainstream media just do not have the capacity or ‘bandwidth’ to supply. This has led to new ways of selling advertising space, and in turn created revenue models that can make substantial profits for leagues and clubs.
Conclusion
Australian football in 2025 has evolved beyond fans’ wildest dreams. The engagement and immersion that underpins the success of the modern game of football shown in the revenues generated from the industry.
This so-called ‘second screen’ digital transformation and partnership ecosystem has turned the traditional business model entirely on its head, and with virtual reality as the new frontier, these numbers are only set to grow.
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