By Brett McKay
October 6th 2008 @ 1:13pm
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The 5pm Grand Final – did anyone notice any difference?
So whilst we didn’t quite get the 3pm kick-off that traditionalists – and plenty of players – wanted, it would seem to me that the first twilight grand final has made little or no difference to the general experience of Grand Final Day.
The move to 5:15pm was supposed to be seen as a compromise by the NRL (and by NRL, I obviously mean NRL broadcasters), and I have a sneaking suspicion it will be seen as a success overall.
The day produced two golden-point crackers, and was then topped off by a pretty dominant display by Manly. All in all, the quality of the football was top shelf in all three games, and even the late rain didn’t really put a dampener on proceedings (no pun intended, truly).
So in lieu of having enough time this weekend to produce my usual weekly column, I’d be keen to hear people’s thoughts on 5:15pm kick-off, and did it really make any difference to the general concept of Grand Final Day??
(and please, no gloating from Manly supporters, those of us that love to hate you are still having trouble swallowing a 40-0 scoreline!!)
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(24)
oikee said | October 6th 2008 @ 2:58pm | Report comment
Because we are 1 hour behind here in queensland it was brilliant. I had a few beers and watched the other games which i enjoyed, then had some snags for tea and sat down for the main game, come 6;30 my mrs then turned onto her shows so did not miss a beat, great timing. And loved the b.b.q’s being bashed during the song, reminded me of the olimpics with the tap-dancing dudes with the grinders.
oikee said | October 6th 2008 @ 3:00pm | Report comment
Or is that one hour ahead, started at 4 anyhow.
cosmos forever said | October 6th 2008 @ 5:55pm | Report comment
yep – had my fill of beer and various oven goods and home from a mates place by 8pm to get the kids off to bed. Even light enough to kick the footy out the front at halftime.
Almost as perfect as the Raiders performance in the 20’s!
I liked it.
The Link said | October 6th 2008 @ 10:02pm | Report comment
Thumbs up from me Brett, I thought it worked.
If anything it increases the liklihood of a dry track which improves the footy on show.
Choppy said | October 7th 2008 @ 7:58am | Report comment
I loved it, 5pm suited me perfectly, there was still a full day of league on, the drinks flowed and still had time for a good meal afterwards.
I agree with the link, the dew hadn’t hit yet and there was less slipping and sliding which made for a more attractive game…..It’s just a pity only Manly were playing it….
The Link said | October 7th 2008 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Early indications are that the ratings did not materially suffer. This has been a winner all round.
Brett McKay said | October 7th 2008 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Link – it goes further than that, there’s reports this morning of a larger national television audience than for the AFL GF, which if it’s true will lock in the 5pm GF for all eternity!!
I have to admit I didn’t mind it – it felt weird sitting down for a proper meal AFTER a GF, but weird in a good way. I’d be happy for 5pm to stay..
Millster said | October 7th 2008 @ 9:25am | Report comment
I’m not surprised Brett. As some others have mentioned it fitted perfectly into the day.
For serious fans it would have been perfectly timed either after a BBQ starting at 1 or 2 in the arvo, or before a dinner and/or night out.
For more casual viewers it was late enough no to interefere with the day’s activities but (and this is more important than many understand) it did not clash with the 7.30 timeslot that contains shows popular with many other family members. As oikee said, the missus and I didn’t have to fight over the GF vs Australain Idol
I was glad to see ANZ at 80K capacity too. I’d been worried about the finals attendances earlier in the series (e.g. the sub-30K attendances at the SFS the week before) but the GF crowd was loud and proud.
Anyway for mine it was a perfect bit of scheduling.
Redb said | October 7th 2008 @ 9:55am | Report comment
TV ratings 5 capital cities only.
Rugby League Grand Final Nine 2.074
Seven’s AFL: Grand Final Seven 2.460
On regional the NRL ratings will be higher, however I’m pretty sure the NRL got circa 2.6M for its 5 capital cities ratings in 2007 with the same teams but the 7pm timeslot.
Th AFL GF rated about the same as last year, albeit with two Vic teams this year. In previous years of 2005 and 2006 when the Swans were in the granny the Sydney numbers jumped much higher for the AFL as the NRL numbers in 2007 and 2008 would reflect with a Melb team playing.
Read into that what you will.
Redb
Millster said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:04am | Report comment
So 10% of the nation for NRL and 12% of the nation for AFL. It would be so interesting (though methodologically impossible) to figure out what proportion of those watched both games. I presume in the case of both matches that one would also need to inflate the figures to allow for communal viewing (e.g. people at pubs and clubs, or people watching in large groups for example at a GF BBQ at someone’s place).
Comparisons aside well done to both codes. Code wars sometimes get heated on this site – and I’m a culprit I admit – but we’re in a lucky land in terms of the quality of sporting events we can enjoy live and on TV.
Redb said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Millster,
Those numbers are for the 5 capital cities only. The NRL usually does better when the regionals are included due to a bigger regional population in NSW and QLD.
The 5 captial cities audience is heavily influenced by the teams involved.
Redb
oikee said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:33am | Report comment
So the nrl wins, good to admit that redb. No seriously i have to let you in on a secret. My little sister is a mad broncos supporter, come aussie rules grand final day she rang me and said go the cats, and the same day i went out the back and my dad had the game on, so thats 2, and my brother watched the aussie rules final having lived down there for awhile, so thats 3. i did not watch it because i had other plans, so considering that we are all rugby league diehards i think the aussie rules is not taboo in queensland, thats all i wanted to say. I will find out how many watch the socceroos match for you.
Redb said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:48am | Report comment
Oikee,
Whilst NRL fans always talk about winning against the AFL, I was just posting the facts known at the mo. Based on the five mainland capitals the AFL GF easily out rated the NRL GF despite the NRL containing a Melbourne team thus ensuring a large Melb audience.
The NRL GF is actually down 20% from last year, relevant to this article did the 5pm timeslot reduce the TV audience?
The AFL GF peaked at 3.9M nationally. That is the number the NRL fans will be aiming at. How much satisfaction to be gained is questionable as the AFL GF is played at the very TV unfriendly time of 2:30pm Saturday afternoon and many many people watch the game at a BBQ.
Redb
Redb
cosmos forever said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:51am | Report comment
How does Mr Neilsen know how many people were at my mate Andrew’s place in front of the telly?
Redb said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Oikee,
When I said the NRL usually does better I was referring to relative to the AFL’s regional audience jump from 5 capital city to include regional. the regional audience is substantially bigger for the NRL than the AFL due to the bigger size of the NSW and QLD regional pop.
Redb
oikee said | October 7th 2008 @ 10:58am | Report comment
No worries redb, i no longer think its a issue, seems like evryone just loves the grand final days for what they are now.
mtngry said | October 7th 2008 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
I loved that the game finished before the sun was completely set. I hate going home at 9pm from a game.
The Link said | October 7th 2008 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
The NRL also has at least 5 arguably 6 regional sides (St George Ill, Canberra, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Townsville, arguably Penrith), compared to the AFL’s 2 (Geelong / Freo). Rather than being a geographical co-incidence, League actually has proactively captured these markets. Combine the populations of these areas and you have another large(ish) capital city (approx 2 mill)
Redb said | October 7th 2008 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
The Link,
I don’t Fremantle could be classified as regional, nor do i think Penrith is.
Redb
LeftArmSpinner said | October 7th 2008 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
worked for me. ratings or not.
Redb said | October 8th 2008 @ 7:35am | Report comment
Oikee,
Looks like they’ve declared the winner – AFL.
From SMH website:
“Overall the AFL rated 3.247 million to the NRL’s 3.070 million from the five capital cities and regional networks. The NRL grand final rated extremely high in the bush – one of its traditional supporter bases – with a regional audience of 996,000. The AFL’s regional figures were 756,000. Of no surprise was the fact the NRL rated higher in Sydney than Melbourne and the reverse was true for the AFL.
The only disappointing aspect to the twilight grand final kick-off – seemingly well received in Sydney – was the reduced audience in Melbourne, compared to last year’s grand final, which also featured the Storm.”
Redb
True Tah said | October 8th 2008 @ 8:41am | Report comment
Redb,
how do they determine how many people watched?
Do they take into account pubs/bbqs as well?
Redb said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:00am | Report comment
True Tah,
Both GF’s would attract their share of groups, the AFL is in prime BBQ time. Last year the NRL game was on at 7pm, this year 5pm (out of prime time). With the same teams and all the publicility/controversy the game rated about 400K fewer than last year, mostly it seems in Melbourne.
Ch 9 and the NRL were reluctant I understand to move the game start time back to a more BBQ and family friendly time in line with the AFL GF which starts at 2:30pm.
Back to the topic of this aticle, did it make any difference? – not to traditional NRL fans, but it hurt their national TV audience.
I think it’s relevant to point out these numbers in light of some of the hoopla around the TV money both codes attract. Most NRL fans think the AFL does not deserve to get more, at least that is my impression, however when you consider that the AFL was able to out rate the NRL with its 2:30pm ‘fans only’ timeslot, then I think they should re-consider. As soon as a melb team is not in the NRL GF combined with its afternoon start the NRL GF would be a fair bit behind in its national numbers.
Amazing when you consider NSW and QLD make up 55% of the Australian population.
Redb
p.s. apologies to Cosmos, unable to produce a suitable haiku.
Michael C said | October 9th 2008 @ 6:45am | Report comment
We were in Brissie for a Sunday morning wedding, then around 3pm finished up and drove across town a fraction – - having completely forgotten about day light saving kicking in back home and in NSW – - we were amazed by the lack of traffic anywhere on the roads………got to our ‘billet’ for the evening and the ‘footy’ was on already and we soon remembered. The funny thing was, our QLD hosts indicated that they didn’t really care who won – what, with having no QLD team in – - to which I queried “Is not the Storm a QLD team?”
One thing driving around Gold Coast, up to Northern Brissie burbs, across the West under the shadow of Mt. Cootha and then back across the South West burbs, back into town and back out again to the GC – - the number of sports precincts with a soccer pitch, perhaps 2 Rugby pitches, and an AFL oval – - – QLD really is a ‘cosmopolitan’ sports city – - –
I must point out to KB – - after residing for 2 nights at Currumbin – - that the RSL does okay meals, if a little light on mushrooms in the sauce, and the hot & cold seafood was a little too weighted in favour of ‘hot and crumbed’…………however, the ability to ‘hire’ Nintendo DS’s for the kids was great – - -and I drove past the PBC Football Club – - down Sarawak Drv – - and the sign…………….I saw was dawbed and tagged reading “PBC Foot-thing Club”…..tagged “KB” I do believe……………anyway, there were some lovely looking AFL ovals I spotted quite regularly through my travellings. Good to see.
The NRL GF – - – what’s it say about a game when the vanquished of a major final can be held scoreless………….that’s under 8s stuff and why so often people don’t keep the scores………….but, we’ve also seen MVFC def AUtd 6-0 in a GF in the HAL………..which was the worst hammering? Or, was Geel over Power last year the AFL equivalent of a 6-0 soccer match or a 40-0 RL socreline).
—————
re the tv ratings – - – we’ve already learned, have we not – - that comparison of NRL with AFL is often skewed for obviouis reasons – - i.e. the NRL has benefitted greatly over the last 3 years from Melb Storm being involved – - thus, they get a 3 city viewership. That’s abnormal when Melb/Vic has a 1/16 make up of the comp. The NRL also benefits via this by being AFTER the AFL GF – - either the next evening or in this case, the next week – - that helps.
The AFL benefitted greatly via a series of GFs that especially the 2 of Syd vs WCE were tremendous for national ratings exposure to markets and non traditional markets at that.
Year on year comparisons within codes don’t hold overly well.
So – it’s hard enough then to try to draw absolute distinctions based on timeslots – - that said, the NRL had the wonderful scenario this year of a straight comparison to last year based on combatants. The fact the NRL ratings were down – including in Melb – may or may not illustrate something relative to more day time BBQs vs night time gatherings- – - – and may illustrate in Melb that it’s a curiousity if on at an accessible time…………….but, it’s cricket season now.