State of the Game 2025: The AFL

This data is up to date to the end of the 2025 Home and Away season.

While I may have extensively written about the ineptitude of the AFL executive in recent times, the game itself remains in rude health.

Attendance

The AFL experienced a slight drop in attendance on 2024, down 1.3% to 7.656m at an average of 36,986 (2025: 37,455). Its the third highest attended season on average behind 2024, and 2008 (36,996). It is the second highest aggregate attendance of all time – behind only 2025, and one of only three seasons to pass 7 million in attendance during the home and away season.

The fall in attendance can be explained by the drop off at Carlton, and Essendon fans realising very early in the season that this was going to be another season in the doldrums. West Coast continued to be poor, and Richmond are yet to climb back to the crowd soaring heights they enjoyed a few years ago.

Attendance By Club

The league was lead by the Pies with a record 67,000 average, the Blues dropped back below 50,000, while Fremantle and Adelaide made up the top 4.

Gold Coast continues to improve with one of of its best seasons at People First Stadium, while GWS had better attendances in Sydney than in Canberra.

The Bulldogs and Saints were bolstered heavily by their sole matches at the MCG.

Membership

The AFL announced yet another record membership, with 14 clubs setting new membership records this year.

It is worth bearing in mind that the AFL now considers a member to be anyone with a real name and contact details. There is no game access or minimum spend requirement,

Television

Seven (Free to Air)

Reported ratings for the 2025 #AFL premiership season were 46.87m (down 1.5% from 47.624m). However, not all AFL matches are reported due to the nature of the AFLs broadcast deal.

Seven reported 80 national broadcasts at a total of 43.927m, down from 47.624 with 13 less matches shown nationally – a legacy of the decision to not show Saturday nights. Sevens average national broadcast rating was 549,000 – up 7% on the 2024 season.

The highest rating football game on Seven was the Legends game which rated 904,000 .

The top rating Seven AFL season matches were

Kings Birthday – Pies/Dees 876k
ANZAC Day – Pies/Bombres 844k
Round 18 – Suns/Pies 763k

Thursday night AFL had 22 matches on the Seven Network, for an aggregate of 12.684m, at an average of 577,000 per match. This was down 8/.4% YoY. The average BVOD audience was 41,000, while the average Reach audience was 1.695 million.

The top ranking Thursday night matches were

Round 5 – Crows/Cats 691,000
Round 4 – Pies/Blues 679,000
Round 22 – Hawks/Pies 670,000

Friday night AFL had 24 matches on the Seven Network for an aggregate of 15.053 million, at an average of 627,000 per match. This was down 2.1% on average YoY. The Average BVOD audience was 44,000, while the average Reach audience was 1.857 million.

Friday fixtures included 4 double headers, these evenings averaged 606,000 on the Seven Network while evenings without doubleheaders averaged 631,000 per match.

Saturday nights didnt have national broadcasts limited to single/dual market matches only, however 374,000 tuned in for the Western Derby and the SA Showndown in Round 20, while 235,000 tuned in for the Power/Dockers and Blues/Suns in Round 22.

Sunday afternoon football was broadcast 26 times on Seven, with an aggregate audience of 10.831m, and an average of 417,000 per broadcast. This was up 12.7% on average YoY. Sevens Sunday afternoons generally featured multiple matches.

The top rating Sunday afternoon match was Opening Rounds Pies/Giants with 620,000 viewers.

Sunday night football was broadcast 5 times on Seven with an aggregate audience of 2.449m at an average of 490,000 per match.

The top Sunday night match was Round 24s Lions/Hawks with 636,000.

In Round 9, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon pointed out that Thursday night games are up 4 per cent on 2024 and Friday nights are up 1 per cent. The Sydney market is up 7 per cent on average for Thursday and Friday nights.

Foxtel (Pay TV)

The 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership season was the most-watched AFL season ever on Kayo SPORTS. Audiences on Kayo SPORTS grew by 19% year-on-year, with fans streaming 7.37 billion minutes of footy across the season, up 12% year-on-year. This marks the seventh consecutive year of audience growth on Kayo SPORTS and fourth consecutive year of growth across Foxtel Group platforms.

Highlights from the season include:

Thursday and Friday Night Footy, which featured Fox Footy’s dedicated commentary and graphics for the first time, saw audiences lift 22% and 9% year-on-year
The Opening Round match between Sydney Swans and Hawthorn Hawks was the most streamed season opener of all time.
Round 21’s Collingwood Magpies versus Brisbane Lions match was the most-streamed AFL match ever.
The most watched teams of the season were Collingwood Magpies, Carlton Blues and Hawthorn Hawks, with Collingwood’s powerhouse clashes against the Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions and Geelong Cats the most watched games.
Gather Round in Adelaide achieved its highest audience since inception in 2023.

While Victoria remains AFL’s heartland, some of the biggest audience lifts across the 2025 season came from Queensland, South Australian and Western Australian clubs and markets.

Following strong performances this season, Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, and Gold Coast Suns all recorded double digit audience growth year-on-year, alongside North Melbourne Kangaroos and Hawthorn Hawks.

Data from Roy Morgan released in March showed over 9.1 million Australians aged 14+ (40%) watched AFL matches on TV either occasionally or regularly in 2024 including AFL pre-season games, AFL Home & Away games, AFL Finals, the AFL Women’s competition or the show-piece AFL Grand Final.

Overall TV viewership of the AFL was up in 2024, by 341,000 (+3.9%) to 9,102,000, and the growth was powered by increases in both male and female viewership, up 197,000 (+4.0%) to 5,078,000 for men and up 144,000 (+3.7%) to 4,024,000 for women on a year earlier.

Participation

The 2025 Ausplay Report includes data from the 2024 Calendar year. The report advises that due to changes in methodology this report is not really compareable to previous years.

Social Media

The AFL reported 13.849m social media followers across four major platforms, up 8.1% on the previous year. The big mover was Tiktok which jumped 20%. Facebook numbers moved 3.5%, Instagram 8.3% while Twitter/X rose just 1.5%.

The Lions were the biggest movers on Social media, jumping nearly 17%, while the Giants came in second with a 16% increase. Of the more established clubs, the Hawks climbed 14%, while the Suns and Pies both finished with double figure increases.

Gather Round

The 2025 Gather Round saw a total attendance of 269,506 at nine matches played across Adelaide Oval, Norwood and Barossa Park, with 36 per cent of attendees coming from interstate. Foxtel reported that Gather Round was the most watched yet.

According to the SA Government, the 2025 AFL Gather Round has delivered a record economic result for South Australia providing a Total Economic Contribution of $113.9 million.

The 2025 result — confirmed in an independent evaluation by IER — is 24 per cent higher than the contribution of the 2024 event ($91.6 million) and 36 per cent higher than the inaugural edition of Gather Round in 2023.

The first ever AFL matches at the new Barossa Park facility helped generate $4.87 million in direct expenditure for the internationally renowned wine region.

The independent evaluation showed 241,613 visitor nights in South Australia during Gather Round, 26 per cent higher than last year (191,696) and 59 per cent per cent higher than 2023 (151,487).

More than 54,000 visitors came to SA from out of state, up 18 per cent on 2024, with the report recording notable growth in visitors from Western Australia and New South Wales.

Visitors spent an average 4.7 nights in SA.

Popularity and awareness

Several surveys were released though the year.

According to data released by Tracksuit, in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, AFL dominates as the preferred sports league. Nearly 39% of Victorians and South Australians chose AFL as their preferred top sport, along with 29% of West Australians.

In Victoria, age plays a big role. The 55+ crowd are the key drivers of the AFL’s dominance. Meanwhile, younger Victorians (18–34) are significantly less likely to back AFL compared to the State average, showing stronger interest in UFC.

Yougov released polling data indicating that the AFL was amongst the most improved sporting league brands in the national conscience, with increases on the Yougov index led by both Queensland sides.

News Limited published an as yet unverified report that More than 1000 people across all states and territories were asked which code they regarded as the “national sport” and the AFL was the overwhelming winner.

Nearly 46 per cent of respondents picked the AFL, which has teams in five states compared with the NRL’s three, despite rugby league boasting an international presence and amid claims from ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys that his code had eclipsed their rivals as talks ramp up for a new TV deal.

The survey was conducted by Net World Sports. we’ve been unable to find this survey.

Expansion

The Tasmanian team is still awaiting its Stadium approval with Macquarie Point being held up through several elections, and the Project of State Significance process. For its part, the AFL remains adamant that the Hobart Stadium is not negotiable, including the roof.

A Tasmanian VFL team will enter the VFL in 2026.

Canberra has made some noise about becoming the 20th team in the league. Andrew Barr told local paper the Canberra Times that “if the AFL decides to expand to 20 teams, Canberra’s proven support for the game, including growing membership, sell-out crowds and infrastructure commitments, will speak for itself”.

There is quite an extensive article on the ABC website that goes into detail on the contenders for the 20th position.

See Also from this season

References