Seven renews push for night grand final after ratings slump for one-sided decider

Channel Seven boss James Warburton has renewed the network’s push for the AFL grand final to be played either at twilight or at night after Saturday’s return to a traditional afternoon timeslot at the MCG produced a slump in television and streaming ratings.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan had hoped the big Sydney market and Lance Franklin’s box office power would lead to record-breaking ratings but the lopsided contest contributed to a smaller audience than expected.

Sydney viewers switched off early.Credit:Getty Images

Geelong’s 81-point win, which was set up with a dominant opening term by the Cats, contributed to a five-city metro audience of 2.179 million which is the second-lowest recorded on OzTam ratings, just ahead of the 2.171 million five-city metro viewership when Essendon beat Carlton in 1993.

Seven’s national audience (which combines metro and regional numbers) of 5.76 million and national average of 3.06 million were, as expected, down on the past two pandemic grand finals. They were played interstate, beamed in prime time into the eastern states and boosted by Melbourne audiences being in lockdown.

There were 1.066 million viewers in Melbourne for Saturday’s grand final and 375,000 in Sydney.

Seven Plus drew 95,000 viewers who streamed the grand final accounting for 14 million minutes streaming time. This compared with 197,000 viewers on Seven Plus for last year’s grand final.

Seven said the grand final was still the number one TV program of the ratings survey year using overnight audiences.

The national audience figures were an improvement on the Richmond versus GWS Giants decider in 2019 which was the last afternoon game played at the MCG.

The Swans versus Collingwood preliminary final the previous weekend drew more than a million viewers as a twilight start at the SCG last Saturday, while the grand final was on the same day as the much-anticipated NRL preliminary final between Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs, which was played in prime time on Saturday night.

Seven West Media managing director James Warburton said Seven supported the AFL making the best decisions for fans but it would draw a larger audience with a later start.

There was a full house at the MCG.Credit:Getty Images

“We will always support the decisions the AFL makes for the fans,” Warburton said.

“The numbers and comparisons are clear for all to see to support a prime-time AFL grand final.

“It’s a national game and a twilight or prime-time bounce will maximise the audience for the code.”

Seven, which has exclusive rights to the grand final, described the 2022 final series as “highly successful” with the series reaching 7.8 million Australians nationally, excluding the grand final, with an average broadcast audience of 1.1 million.

That figure was up on the 2021 finals series while the Sydney broadcast audience jumped 23 per cent year-on-year, the Perth audience was up 22 per cent and the Brisbane audience included 10 per cent.

Seven and Foxtel recently extended their TV rights deal with the AFL making a $4.5 billion, seven-year broadcast deal with the AFL until the end of 2031.

“Seven’s live, free and exclusive coverage of the unmissable premiership decider captivated the nation and demonstrated once again why the AFL is Australia’s number one winter sport,” Warburton said.

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