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In the fourth and final part of our most famous clubs in Australia series, we take a look at the popularity of the top tier of our football clubs across all four codes.
In the previous editions, I looked at some of the big football clubs in Australia along with some smaller ones as ‘special mentions’ with a description as to why they held a place in the heart of Australian sports fans.
This edition is more of a straight up list of the big hitters in Aussie sports.
This is done by examining only those metrics measurable in 2014, including: attendances, social media and TV ratings.
1. Attendances – all home ground attendances in 2014 are counted for each club. One point is earned for each thousand of average home ground attendances.
2. Social media – I counted Twitter followers for the official Twitter account of each club. One point is earned for each thousand Twitter followers.
3. TV ratings – I focused on Fox Sports live telecasts because the numbers are readily available and because all four codes are telecast on Fox. Since ratings can be measured in the hundreds of thousands, the average ratings for each club were halved, and then one point was earned per thousand units.
Final points
• The NRL and AFL get large ratings on FTA TV, so arguably they are both disadvantaged by just including Fox, but, focusing on Fox allowed comparisons to be made, and in any event, they generally come out on top anyway.
• Weighing attendances the same as Twitter followers probably disadvantages the AFL clubs because of their much larger attendances across the board. Arguably, attendances are more valuable than Twitter followers.
• I decided to include the Warriors and Phoenix clubs in the list, but only the five Australian Super Rugby clubs are included, although I include all of their home games and TV ratings (even when they play against non-Australian clubs).
On the whole, the results look quite reasonable to me.
If nothing else, it gives us a base to return to every six months to see if there are any movements between the clubs (with a full year of data).
The results
1. Collingwood Football Club – 249 points
Attendances: 61k
Twitter: 61k
TV Ratings: 254k
2. Essendon Football club – 223 points
Attendances: 49k
Twitter: 60k
TV Ratings: 229k
3. Tie: Brisbane Broncos and Carlton Football Club – 211 points
Brisbane:
Attendances: 36k
Twitter: 45k
TV Ratings: 262k
Carlton:
Attendances: 39k
Twitter: 52k
TV Ratings: 240k
5. Richmond Football Club – 202 points
Attendances: 59k
Twitter: 42k
TV Ratings: 202k
6. Geelong Football Club – 198 points
Attendances: 38k
Twitter: 42k
TV Ratings: 235k
7. Melbourne Storm – 192 points
Attendances: 15k
Twitter: 50k
TV Ratings: 254k
8. Adelaide Football Club – 187 points
Attendances: 47k
Twitter: 44k
TV Ratings: 191k
9. South Sydney Rabbitohs – 186 points
Attendances: 23k
Twitter: 43k
TV Ratings: 239k
10. Sydney Swans – 184 points
Attendances: 32k
Twitter: 47k
TV Ratings: 209k
11. Hawthorn Football Club – 180 points
Attendances: 25k
Twitter: 45k
TV Ratings: 221k
12. Port Adelaide Football Club – 174 points
Attendances: 45k
Twitter: 29k
TV Ratings: 201k
13. Fremantle Football Club – 169 points
Attendances: 37k
Twitter: 33k
TV Ratings: 199k
14. Parramatta Eels – 167 points
Attendances: 21k
Twitter: 27k
TV Ratings: 238k
15. West Coast Eagles – 166 points
Attendances: 36k
Twitter: 36k
TV Ratings: 187k
16. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles – 165 points
Attendances: 11k
Twitter: 29k
TV Ratings: 250k
17. Tie: Sydney Roosters, Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs and Wests Tigers – 163 points
Roosters:
Attendances: 14k
Twitter: 30k
TV Ratings: 239k
Bulldogs:
Attendances: 16k
Twitter: 31k
TV Ratings: 233k
Tigers:
Attendances: 14k
Twitter: 30k
TV Ratings: 238k
20. Tie: St George Illawarra Dragons and North Melbourne Football Club – 159 points
Dragons:
Attendances: 21k
Twitter: 24k
TV Ratings: 229k
North Melbourne:
Attendances: 27k
Twitter: 28k
TV Ratings: 207k
22. New Zealand Warriors – 155 points
Attendances: 19k
Twitter: 48k
TV Ratings: 175k
23. North Queensland Cowboys – 152 points
Attendances: 14k
Twitter: 22k
TV Ratings: 231k
24. Melbourne Football Club – 151k
Attendances: 29k
Twitter: 29k
TV Ratings: 186k
25. Gold Coast Titans – 145 points
Attendances: 16k
Twitter: 24k
TV Ratings: 210k
26. St Kilda Football Club – 143 points
Attendances: 24k
Twitter: 31k
TV Ratings: 176k
27. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks – 135 points
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 18k
TV Ratings: 209k
28. Newcastle Knights – 133 points
Attendances: 17k
Twitter: 22k
TV Ratings: 188k
29. Brisbane Lions – 132 points
Attendances: 22k
Twitter: 23k
TV Ratings: 173k
30. Penrith Panthers – 131 points
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 16k
TV Ratings: 206k
31. Western Bulldogs – 129 points
Attendances: 23k
Twitter: 23k
TV Ratings: 166k
32. Gold Coast Football Club – 128 points
Attendances: 17k
Twitter: 26k
TV Ratings: 171k
33. GWS Giants – 125 points
Attendances: 9k
Twitter: 24k
TV Ratings: 184k
34. Canberra Raiders – 124 points
Attendances: 10k
Twitter: 19k
TV Ratings: 191k
35. Queensland Reds – 106 points
Attendances: 28k
Twitter: 37k
TV Ratings: 82k
36. NSW Waratahs – 92 points
Attendances: 17k
Twitter: 23k
TV Ratings: 104k
37. Sydney FC – 90 points
Attendances: 17k
Twitter: 39k
TV Ratings: 68k
38. Melbourne Victory FC – 80 points
Attendances: 19k
Twitter: 32k
TV Ratings: 57k
39. Brumbies – 74 points
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 22k
TV Ratings: 79k
40. Western Sydney Wanderers FC – 65 points
Attendances: 14k
Twitter: 22k
TV Ratings: 58k
41. Tie: Western Force and Melbourne Rebels – 64 points
Force:
Attendances: 13k
Twitter: 14k
TV Ratings: 73k
Rebels:
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 17k
TV Ratings: 70
43. Brisbane Roar FC – 63 points
Attendances: 14k
Twitter: 18.3k
TV Ratings: 62k
44. Tie: Newcastle Jets FC and Adelaide United FC – 56 points
Jets:
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 19k
TV Ratings: 52k
United:
Attendances: 12k
Twitter: 14k
TV Ratings: 60k
46. Melbourne Heart (Melbourne City FC) – 55 points
Attendances: 9k
Twitter: 20k
TV Ratings: 53k
47. Perth Glory FC – 48 points
Attendances: 9k
Twitter: 14k
TV Ratings: 52k
48. Central Coast Mariners FC – 47 points
Attendances: 9k
Twitter: 12k
TV Ratings: 53k
49. Wellington Phoenix FC – 44 points
Attendances: 9k
Twitter: 13k
TV Ratings: 44k
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