This article continues my series of monthly updates on the ratings and attendances of club football games in Australia across all four codes.
The NRL got the two top spots in the Fox ratings for May. The Rabbitohs were involved in both games, taking top spot in their Monday night game against the Dragons (321,000) in the only football game for the month to breach 300,000 in ratings.
The Storm continued their run of solid ratings with second spot for their match against the Rabbitohs (296,000). The Storm also got a high rating for last Monday’s game, but that figure will appear in the June article.
The Cowboys versus Bulldogs match was in fourth spot with 256,000.
The A-League finals series culminated in a grand final win to Melbourne Victory, and that game against Sydney FC took fifth spot (251,000). No other A-League games made the top 45 (cut-off at 145,000).
The AFL’s highest rating game was Hawthorn versus the Swans (264,000) coming in third. The next highest AFL game finished sixth with Essendon versus North Melbourne (247,000).
A notable entry in our list for the AFL is Carlton versus the Giants, which finished in eighth spot (239,000).
Of our list of 45, 29 are AFL games, 15 are NRL games and the grand final was the sole appearance for the A-League. Five NRL games make up the top 10.
No Super Rugby games made the list.
The AFL dominates the attendances, although the A-League finals and one exhibition match make notable appearances.
Of the top 30 home-and-away games, 29 of them are AFL games. The one game which was not an AFL game belongs to Super Rugby, with 26,971 watching the Waratahs versus Crusaders which finished 30th.
The most attended game for the May was the Dreamtime clash between Richmond versus Essendon, attracting 83,804 fans. Carlton versus Collingwood finished in second spot with 71,759. The exhibition game between Sydney FC and Tottenham Hotspur attracted 71,500 and finished in third spot.
Only 29,843 saw the A-League grand final, but the semi-final between the Victory and Melbourne City, played at Etihad, attracted 50,837, which was seventh.
The highest NRL game came in at 35th, with 24,566 watching the Broncos play the Panthers.
TV ratings
1. Souths versus St George Illawarra: 321
2. Melbourne Storm versus Souths: 296
3. Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans: 264
4. North Queensland versus Canterbury-Bankstown: 256
5. Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC (grand final): 251
6. Essendon versus North Melbourne: 247
7. Canberra Raiders versus Brisbane Broncos: 242
8. Carlton versus GWS Giants: 239
9. Sydney Swans versus Carlton: 237
10. North Queensland versus Manly: 236
11. Manly versus Penrith: 236
12. Port Adelaide versus Richmond: 220
13. Newcastle Knights versus Brisbane Broncos: 219
14. Carlton versus Collingwood: 218
15. Sydney Swans versus Geelong: 217
16. Adelaide Crows versus Port Adelaide: 213
17. Gold Coast Titans versus Cronulla: 211
18. North Melbourne versus Hawthorn: 206
19. Gold Coast Suns versus Collingwood: 202
20. Cronulla versus New Zealand Warriors: 201
21. Collingwood versus Geelong: 198
22. St George Illawarra versus Canberra Raiders: 197
23. West Coast Eagles versus Geelong: 193
24. Richmond versus Essendon: 192
25. Western Bulldogs versus GWS Giants: 190
26. Port Adelaide versus West Coast Eagles: 190
27. Parramatta versus New Zealand Warriors: 188
28. Gold Coast Titans versus Souths: 185
29. Parramatta versus New Zealand Warriors: 180
30. Geelong versus Carlton: 179
31. Collingwood versus North Melbourne: 173
32. Western Bulldogs versus Fremantle: 171
33. Sydney Swans versus Western Bulldogs: 168
34. Richmond versus Collingwood: 167
35. GWS versus Hawthorn: 166
36. Adelaide Crows versus Fremantle: 162
37. Adelaide Crows versus St Kilda: 159
38. St Kilda versus Essendon: 154
39. Fremantle versus Essendon: 154
40. Adelaide Crows versus St Kilda: 152
41. Melbourne Demons versus Fremantle: 152
42. Gold Coast Suns versus Brisbane Lions: 152
43. New Zealand Warriors versus Newcastle Knights: 151
44. Manly versus Newcastle Knights: 151
45. Essendon versus Brisbane Lions: 146
Attendances
1. Richmond versus Essendon: 83,804
2. Carlton versus Collingwood: 71,759
3. Sydney FC versus Tottenham Hotspur (exhibition): 71,500
4. Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans: 63,391
5. Richmond versus Collingwood: 59,034
6. Collingwood versus Geelong: 52,152
7. Melbourne Victory versus Melbourne City (finals): 50,837
8. Adelaide Crows versus Port Adelaide: 49,735
9. Adelaide Crows versus Fremantle: 45,518
10. Richmond versus Geelong: 45,228
11. Port Adelaide versus Richmond: 44,451
12. Essendon versus North Melbourne: 43,972
13. Adelaide Crows versus St Kilda: 43,532
14. Collingwood versus North Melbourne: 43,452
15. Hawthorn versus Melbourne Demons: 41,935
16. Port Adelaide versus West Coast Eagles: 38,508
17. North Melbourne versus Hawthorn: 38,077
18. West Coast Eagles versus Geelong: 37,676
19. Fremantle versus Essendon: 37,535
20. Essendon versus Brisbane Lions: 36,857
21. Fremantle versus North Melbourne: 35,836
22. West Coast Eagles versus GWS Giants: 34,544
23. Sydney Swans versus Carlton: 32,105
24. Geelong versus Carlton: 32,032
25. St Kilda versus Essendon: 29,869
26. Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC (grand final): 29,843
27. Western Bulldogs versus St Kilda: 29,619
28. Melbourne Demons versus Western Bulldogs: 29,381
29. Sydney Swans versus Geelong: 28,063
30. NSW Waratahs versus Crusaders: 26,971
31. West Coast Eagles versus Gold Coast Suns: 26,964
32. Melbourne Demons versus Sydney Swans: 26,894
33. Sydney FC versus Adelaide United (finals): 26,873
34. Sydney Swans versus Western Bulldogs: 25,541
35. Brisbane Broncos versus Penrith: 24,566
36. North Queensland versus Brisbane Broncos: 24,531
37. St Kilda versus West Coast Eagles: 23,598
38. Melbourne Demons versus Fremantle: 22,892
39. Queensland Reds versus Sharks: 20,899
40. Carlton versus Brisbane Lions: 20,273
41. Adelaide United versus Brisbane Roar (finals): 20,155
42. NSW Waratahs versus Sharks: 18,578
43. Western Bulldogs versus Fremantle: 18,170
44. Melbourne Storm versus Souths: 18,067
45. St George Illawarra versus Cronulla: 18,011
Mister Football
Roar Guru
They have actually, and as you can see from the other comments, there is a good deal of interest in the numbers.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Biggest FTA ratings of football club games for May (5 city metro only) - using cut-off of 500k: 1. Collingwood vs Geelong: 660k (Seven: 509; 7Mate: 151) 2. Essendon vs North Melbourne: 627k (Seven: 493; 7Mate: 134) 3. Geelong vs Carlton: 591k (Seven: 469; 7Mate: 122) 4. Sydney Swans vs Carlton: 588k (Seven: 412; 7Mate: 176) 5. Adelaide Crows vs Port Adealaide: 583k (Seven: 556; 7Mate: 27) 6. Carlton vs Collingwood: 564k (Seven: 423; 7Mate: 141) 7. North Melbourne vs Hawthorn: 552k (Seven: 397; 7Mate: 155) 8. Hawthorn vs Sydney Swans 500k (Seven: 391; 7Mate: 109)
Minge
Guest
Mr Footy Ignore the critics - google Brendan Behan critic description - If you dont like dont read it - I appreciate it as my subscription to \media week has finished and I dont have the time to calculate them... Slane Your comment is too cryptic - SOO that runs 3 times a year on mid weeek winter nights with nothing else on - rates well but detracts from week to week RL
pat malone
Guest
i am pretty sure the editors havent said that. ill pay you to stop
pat malone
Guest
Dont worry we have explained it to him before, yet he still publishes these useless FOx numbers every month
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Bruce The Roar editors have assured me in the past that there is plenty of interest in these monthly figures. However, I thought I might take a quick look and put up the bigger FTA ratings for the month, just for you. Stay tuned!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
As has explained many times before, since all the football codes are on Fox, it allows for comparability, plus the ratings are easily accessible and are already national figures. If someone wants to do a separate list using FTA figures, they are most welcome, but it's not as easy as it first sounds (for example, many AFL games are spread across two FTA channels while also being simulcast on Fox, and the FTA ratings are generally only 5 city metro, so you are going to start a different series of debates on those points alone).
Mister Football
Roar Guru
It's definitely a big plank in the NRL's bid to get more TV money. No one can argue with Monday night ratings. The AFL had a problem with attendances for Sunday and Monday night games and have pulled back on both. But interestingly, Thursday night games appear to work for the AFL. So I can see a future where the NRL has Monday night to itself and the AFL tries more games on a Thursday night.
slane
Guest
State of Origin only gets as many viewers as 3-4 bog standard AFL games combined?
clipper
Guest
Double edged sword indeed - league being the only code not to get one match in the top thirty.
Bruce
Guest
No mention of course about a certain game that had 4.2 million viewers. Once again shows the irrevelancy of this monthly non event. As the old saying goes, "if you're only going to do half a job, don't bother doing any job at all". If you're not going to put FTA in MF you may as well forget about this drivel.
Josh
Guest
Slow burn / no burn.
Minge
Guest
However if there is a one-sided AFL game you can watch the other on Fox so it is in Fox's interest to have 2 on at once. NRL games are rarely one-sided because of the nature of the game (you have it for 6 and then I have it for six) and some referees are attuned to "TV entertainment needs." The AFL and rugby union where a top team can dominate possession have more wider results.
conchie
Roar Rookie
Good post
mds1970
Roar Guru
One thing that disadvantages the AFL is that they have two games on at the same time for much of Saturday and Sunday; which splits the audience for each individual timeslot during those days. With the length of AFL games compared to other codes, that's hard to avoid - although the Thursday night fixtures with the rolling bye concept that I mentioned in the comments to last month's article and elsewhere would go a long way to reducing the number of times two games are being played at the same time. On Saturdays, there's two games from 2pm and again from 7:20pm. But when the audience isn't being split, the 4:40pm game, that can often end up being the highest-rating Saturday game simply because it's not competing against another AFL game. Much as I'd like to think there's a dramatic rise in the GWS TV audience and a massive groundswell of interest building for the Giants; the reality is that I'm sure it's a slower burn than that and the interest isn't building that quickly - and the increase in the Giants' ratings this season is more likely to be because they've had a lot more of the 4:40pm timeslot when they're not up against another AFL game.
mds1970
Roar Guru
Monday nights are clear air, when there's no other sport on. No doubt that's a factor behind the NRL's best ratings being on Monday night - it's not a night when many people are going out; and the NRL has the live sport market to itself. That's timeslot's value to the TV rights is enormous. Monday night NRL is here to stay - the TV ratings confirm that.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
This seems to be a recurring issue with this list.
TheBlackCat1859
Guest
3. Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans: 264,000 That was on Fox Footy only. It also got: Seven 391,000 (Melbourne 305,000 Adelaide 86,000) 7mate 231,000 (Sydney 74,000 Brisbane 35,000 Perth 122,000) Therefore 886,000.
Daryl Adair
Guest
This info is welcome. But I don't quite follow the TV ratings - the focus seems only on Fox. Free-to-air captures much larger numbers. Without looking at a combination of PayTV and FTA it's difficult to get a sense of television audience reach for various sports.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Monday night footy will continue to be a double edged sword for League fans. The high ratings add value to the TV deal, but the poor attendances are an embarrassment that wipes a big chunk off the crowd average. Especially in a period traditionally experiencing a drop-off in attendances partly due to Origin.