Pushed along by Melbourne die-hards who couldn’t get there in person, this year’s live AFL grand final in Perth landed an average audience of 3.91 million viewers on Saturday night, according to OzTAM ratings.
That advertiser-pleasing figure was the highest of any broadcast this year, even beating July’s Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics, which pulled in 2.7 Million.
The highest-rating AFL GF since 2016, the biggest commercial audience share was of course in Melbourne, with 88.9 per cent. The ground capacity of the MCG – the game’s spiritual home – is 100,024.
The next highest share was in Adelaide, with 77.3 per cent. Perth followed with 76.9 per cent. The total number of viewers was up two per cent on last year’s decider, which again, due to the pandemic, was played away from Melbourne in Brisbane.
What has television pundits talking, though, is that the figure is a jump of 33 per cent on the 2019 GF, which was the last time the year’s biggest game was played during the day.
The NRL moved grand final clashes to a night-time slot two decades ago, but for now the AFL are committed to the traditional 2.30pm game.
AFL broadcaster Channel Seven are said to be open to a twilight slot once things are back to regular pre-COVID ways, hoping to please both fans and advertisers.
