The British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia was attended by 453,237 at an average of 50,360, using 86% of available capacity – this includes all tour matches. The Test series was attended by 222,918 at an average of 74,306 using 94% of available capacity.
The 90,307 for the Wallabies match at the MCG is the largest Union game ever held at the venue, is a record for any test for the British and Irish Lions. It is the highest attended Union test held in Australia in 20 years.
The Bledisloe Cup was attended by 106,550 in Australia and New Zealand, with Game 1 at Eden Park drawing 46,437 AND Game 2 at Optus Stadium drawing 60,113.
Rugby Championship matches against Argentina attracted 62,075 people at an average of 31,038 in Townsville and Sydney.
Australian crowds for the Wallabies in 2025 have seen 374,831 attend 5 tests at an average of 62,233 at 95% of available capacity. Including tour matches, 758,814 have turned out for international Rugby Union in Australia this year using 93% of available capacity.
The Wallabies continue to be a fairly consistent draw with 948,525 attending Tests in Australia post COVD, using 88% of available capacity.
Television
Matches against the state sides and others were exclusive to pay tv provider Stan in Australia, and no broadcast information is available. Test matches will be shown on Free to air channel Nine. In the UK, the tour is exclusive to Sky Sports.
CBS and streaming service Paramount+ have exclusive rights to show all three of this year’s British & Irish Lions Tests in the US.
The first Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 772,000 on the Nine Network including 89,000 on its streaming arm, 9NOW. It had a total audience reach of 1.778m. This was consolidated (including Time shifted viewing) to 803,000.
The second Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 804,000 on the Nine Network, with 100,000 watching on 9NOW and a total reach of 1.893m. This was consolidated to 881,000.
The third Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 689,000 on the Nine network with 83,000 watching on 9NOW and a total reach of 1.801m. This was later consolidated to 781,000.
The Wallabies series v the British and Irish Lions had aggregate ratings of 2.467 million at an average of 822,000 per match on Nine.
The Bledisloe Cup drew an impressive 481,000 for Game 1 on Saturday afternoon up against the AFL Grand Final, while Game 2 in Perth, while Game 2 pulled in 893,000 viewers – easily the best rating on FTA since COVID for a Wallabies test, and the third one this year to pass 800k.
The All Blacks v Australia Bledisloe Cup match on 27 September drew the most eyeballs for the NZ season, with 967,000 watching on Sky Sport and Sky Open – and was also the most-watched rugby match of the year on Sky Open.
Rugby Championship matches against Argentina attracted 652,000 viewers at an average of 326,000 per match
Rugby Union Tests this year on Nine have an aggregated audience of 4.779m at an average of 597,000 per match. (4.384m at 612k for AU hosted matches)
Stan and SkyUK audiences remain an enigma.
Consolidated numbers on the Nine network
- Lions Game 1: 803,000
- Lions Game 2: 881,000
- Lions Game 3: 781,000
- Bledisloe Game 1: 481,000
- Bledisloe Game 2: 893,000
- Aus/Fiji: 269,000
- Argentina Game 1: 344,000
- Argentina Game 2: 308,000
