AFL season opener pulls over 2 million viewers
The AFL season opener between the Sydney Swans and Melbourne at the SCG was watched on Seven by 2.3 million Australians last night.
The game peaked at 977,000 viewers nationally, with the match averaging 702,000 viewers. It was the #1 program last night in all people, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s, and the #1 sport program yesterday.
“Last night was a fantastic start to what promises to be a great AFL season: a huge crowd at the SCG, a big TV audience and a gripping game,” Seven’s head of network sport, Lewis Martin, said.
“Following one of the greatest Finals Series ever seen in modern day football, we cannot wait to see what 2024 has in store”
The season opener was the first to take place in Sydney, part of a strategy to build the TV audience for AFL in NSW.
“This will be the first time ever that we’re committing to putting all eight finals on Seven, nationally,” Seven’s national sport sales director, Rob Maclean told Mumbrella during the week.
“Typically we’d wait ’til the end of the year to see is there are New South Wales and Queensland sides in those finals before we do that. So we’re really committing to growth in those markets – because they have massive potential.
“AFL is a national game. It’s the number one code in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, but absolutely making inroads into Queensland and New South Wales.
“And that’s a key part of the attractiveness of Seven’s AFL proposition to advertisers, and a key part of why we’ve committed to the sport all the way out to 2031.”
Read our full interview with Maclean about the AFL’s push into NSW and QLD.
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