State of the Game: The Rise and Rise of the NRL 2025

The NRL has had an outstanding year, with record attendances and tv ratings, and a previously unmatched hype around the game. There has never been a better time to be a rugby league fan – and heres a summary of all the data that we know so we can prove it!

Congratulations are due to the Bronco’s – whose Grand Final win sent their shares rocketing upward by 26% according to the AFR. while doubling over the last 12 months.

Social Media

The NRL has always been strong in social media, and this season was no different, with the league and its clubs growing social media following by 11.48%. The Dolphins (+32%), Bulldogs (+26%) and Sea Eagles led the charge (+24%).

Brisbane became the first club to pass 2m followers, dominating in all 4 measuresacross Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and Twitter (X), followed by the Storm on 1.57m, while the Warriors place 3rd overall to 1,.428m

Scout, uses a slightly variation that includeds Youtube.

The Telegraph posted a list of the top 10 NRL players on instagram, while reporting that Reece Walsh will earn a staggering $40m from his rugby league career, according to celebrity agent Max Markson. Since that article was written, Walsh’s followers have risen another 74,000 on instagram…in a week.

According to Rothfield, Reece Walsh and players like him are a major part of the sports renaissance

Images below published in the Telegraph.

Attendance

The 2025 NRL season was a record for attendances with a total home and away season attendance of 4.046m attending 197 events at an average of 20,538 per match – up 4.13% YoY. The Finals series was attendaed by 328,417 – up 0.52% YoY. In total the season was attended by 4.374m at an average of 21,234

Brisbane led the way with an average attendance over 40,000, followed by the Bulldogs with assistance from two home public holiday events.

The Warriors led the way in capacity use, coming close to maxing out their venue, followed by Manly and perhaps underscoring the need for an upgrade or move at Brookvale.

NRLW

The 2025 NRLW season was attended by 392,179 at an average of 5,853 per match. Stand alone matches were attended by 68,529 at an average of 2,284 per match.

The NRLW home and away season was attended by 312,119 at an average of 5,034 (standalone 56,124 @ 2,079) while the finals was attended by 80,060 (standalone 12,405).

Canterbury led the overall attendance averages for the NRLW, but the Warriors were the powerhouse in standalone matches with huge average crowds compared to the rest of the competition.

Television

Roy Morgan notes that The NRL consistently rates as one of Australia’s favourite ‘TV products’. Now 6.3 million Australians (27.7% of Australians aged 14+) watch the NRL on TV, up 392,000 (+6.6%) on four years ago.

According to the NRL, Total NRL TV audiences year to date are on track to be up 9%, while NRLW viewership is up 45%.

According to VOZ, the NRL season had aggregate average ratings of 61.417m at an an average of 660,000 per match. This is up 20% on 2024 with the Grand Final still to be consolidated.

Mediaweek reported in Round 10, that the NRL season was up 12.5% on Foxgroup.

Nine says NRL Season 2025 (Regular Season + Final Series) has seen growth of +11.5% on Total TV, recording a National Total TV Average Audience of 614,000 per match (the highest for a NRL Season in VOZ history).

Home and Away

The 2025 NRL season on Nine finished with an aggregate audience of 47,710m at an average oif 568,000 per match, This was up 8.3% in total and average. BVOD agregate was 4.997m at an average of 58,000 per match, while the average reach was 1.298m.

The Broncos were the most watched team on Nine FTA ahead of Canterbury and Penrith.

21 Thursday night games had an aggregate audience of 14.023m (+11%, up from 12.693m) at an average of 668,000 (up 11%, from 604k), with an average BVOD of 103,000 (up 41%, from 73k) and an average Reach of 1.469m (down 1.2% from 1,487m).

The Storm were the most watched club on Thtursday nights, ahead of Penrith and Brisbane.

27 Friday night games had an aggregate audience of 15.938m (up 6%, from 14.996m) at an average of 590,000 (up 6% from 555k), with an average BVOD of 88,000 (up 33%, from 66k), and an average Reach of 1.289m (down 4/1% from 1.345m)

The Roosters were the most watched club on Friday nights ahead of Brisbane and South Sydney.

5 Saturday night games had an aggregate audience of 3.368m (up 54%, from 2.183m, at an average of 474,000 (Up 30% from 364,000, with an average BVOD of 66,000 (up 73%, from 38,000) and an average reach of 1.166m (up 19% from 980,000)

28 Sunday afternoon games had an aggregate audience of 14.077m (up 6% from 13.307m) at an average of 503,000 (up 6% from 475k). average BVOD was 64,000 (up 4% from 46k), while average reach was 1.218m. (up 1.5% from 1.2m)

Parramatta were the most watched club on Sunday afternoons, ahead of North Queensland and Penrith.

Finals

The finals had a ratings aggregate of 13.707m, up 32% year on year including the largest non Grand Final recorded by either the NRL or AFL, and the largest Grand final audience between the two codes, ever.

Nine says the NRL Finals series has recorded its highest Audience in VOZ History with over 1.1 million people tuning into every game (up 33.3% year-on-year) on Nine.

Leading up to the Grand Final, the NRL published some viewing stats with both Fox and NZ

Finals W1 Australian Total Audience: 6.4m (up +27% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 422k (up +39% YoY
Finals W2 Australian Total Audience: 3.6m (up +34% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 205k (up +80% YoY)
Finals W3 Australian Total Audience: 5.0m (up +36% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 241k (up +19% YoY).

The Broncos vs Panthers Preliminary Final delivered a historic result – setting a new record as the most-watched single broadcast in Foxtel Group history across all sports with 943,000 viewers, alongside a record-breaking 1.76 million viewers on Nine. The Storm v Sharks game was the second most watched NRL match on Fox in history.

2025 #NRL Grand Final

Storm/Broncos Nine 4.460m (BVOD 1.316m) Reach 6.409m
Post 2.376m
Entertainment 2.351m

#NRL Grand Final breakdown

Nine 4.460m (+30% YoY)
Metro 3.099m (+38%) Regional 1.361m (+21%)
Syd 1.099m (+20%) Mel 734k (+39%) Bri 941k (+66%) Ade 127k (+37%) Per 198k (+51%)
NZ 181k (+15% YoY)

2025 #NRLW Grand Final

Nine 1.032m (BVOD 224k) Reach 1.883m 2025 (+36%)

State of Origin

The 2025 #NRLW Origin series had a total overnight audience aggregate of, 2.989m at an average of 996,000. This is down 3% YoY. [2024: 3.084m at an average of 1.028m]

Womens Origin

Game 1 1/5: Nine 927k (BVOD 172k) Reach 2.009
Game 2 15/5 – Nine 1.067m (BVOD 196k) Reach 2.131m
Game 3 29/5 – Nine 995k (BVOD 170k) Reach 1.965m

Mens Origin

The 2025 Origin Series has rated an aggregate of 11.471m on Nine with last night to be consolidated. Theres still a chance this goes over 4m. This is already up 11.8% on the 2024 series.

Game 1 29/5 – Nine 3.755m (BVOD 963k) Reach 5.449m
Game 2 – 18/6 Nine 3.751m (BVOD 957k) Reach 5.467m
Game 3 9/7 – Nine 3.904m (BVOD 978k) Reach 5.657m

Origin 3 was the highest rating Origin on Nine since Origin 1, 2016, and even with consolidation wont break the record from Origin 3, 2013 (4.194m) – last night was the highest rating Game III since Origin 3, 2013.

According to Nine

State of Origin III – The Decider was the highest rating Game 3 since 2013 and the highest rating of any game since 2016.
State of Origin III – The Decider recorded the highest ever BVOD audience of all time with 978,000 watching on 9Now (beating FIFA Women’s World Cup Semi Final: Matildas v England by 8,000).
State of Origin III – The Decider recorded a BVOD audience of 978,000 on 9Now – up 13.2% year-on-year.

The 2025 Mens, Womens and U19s Origin broadcasts have an aggregate audience of 15.001m. This figure is up 8.1% on the 2024 season.

Memberships

As is typical of the NRL, they have not release official membership numbers again. Club numbers are sourced from websites by SportsIndustry. Several clubs have not provided any data, some clubs have not updated for a while.

We do know that Seven clubs have reported record numbers this year Raiders, Bulldogs, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Storm, Knights and Parramatta.

The Melbourne Storm have reported a record membership – up 40% on last year

Support

The latest data from Roy Morgan shows NRL Grand Finalist the Brisbane Broncos are Australia’s most widely supported NRL club for a second straight year with 1,271,000 supporters. The Storm come in second, far ahead of the Roosters in third.

Magic Round

Magic Round was attended by 149,306 -This is up 0.42% on last year and is the highest attended Magic Round event. So far this season the NRL has been attended by 1.461m people at an average of 22,490. This is up 5.17% YoY

Expansion

In December, the NRL, Australian Government and PNG announced a team for PNG, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. The $600 million will be split into three “streams” — $290 million for the franchise, $250 million for rugby league partnerships across the Pacific and a $60 million licence fee.

On May 7, it was announced that The Western Australian Government has reached agreement with the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) for a new membership-based, not-for-profit WA club the Perth Bears to join the NRL Premiership competition in 2027.

The WA Government will provide temporary direct financial support to the club of $60 million over seven years, commencing 2025/26, with $35 million ring-fenced for development, including grassroots.

An additional $5.6 million will be provided for match day support and marketing over the seven-year period.

The Bulldogs and Warriors joined the NRLW competition. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has declared the NRLW’s expansion to 12 teams will act as a springboard for the continued rise of women’s rugby league in Australia and the Pacific.

References