GWS Giants want twilight Grand Final to boost TV ratings in NSW and Queensland
GWS officials have urged the AFL to endorse a twilight Grand Final after the phenomenal success of last year’s preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs. Do you agree?
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GREATER Western Sydney officials have urged the AFL to endorse a twilight Grand Final after the phenomenal success of last year’s preliminary final.
Giants chief executive David Matthews said a twilight decider would significantly boost TV ratings in NSW and Queensland regardless of the participants.
Last year’s preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs was the second-most watched AFL game outside a Grand Final, drawing a peak audience of 3.65 million.
It was the most-watched AFL game on Fox Footy and trails only the 2007 Geelong-Collingwood preliminary final for a non-Grand Final clash.
Fusion Strategy media analyst Steve Allen said a twilight Grand Final would provide a 10 per cent lift on the 6.5 million viewers nationally who watched last year’s season decider.
Matthews said for viewers living in NSW and Queensland, a later start to the Grand Final made sense.
“I would play a twilight Grand Final,’’ he told the Herald Sun.
“I think particularly when you are trying to win the attention of 54 per cent of the Australian population in NSW and Queensland, the later you make it, the bigger the audience, the better promotion it is.
“We think up here twilight is our best slot. With traffic and lifestyle considerations, people can have a day at the beach and then go to the footy or watch it.
“My first view is that we have to qualify. If we did then we’d even play it at Alice Springs at midnight (if asked).”
The AFL Commission is expected to make a decision on a time for this year’s decider next Thursday.
Chief executive Gillon McLachlan said ratings alone cannot be a consideration to move the game, but conceded “every part of that (preliminary final) was compelling”.
Allen said a later Grand Final would be worth “millions” to the Seven network.
“They would get a 10 per cent (ratings) boost or thereabouts. In NSW and Queensland, it would be even bigger than that, but overall it would be about 10 per cent,’’ he said.
Last year’s Grand Final saw Seven amass the highest TV ratings for a Grand Final since it regained free-to-air screening rights in 2007.
The Sydney-Western Bulldogs Grand Final attracted 6.5m viewers and a metropolitan average of 4.089m, with 5.106m watching the dying minutes.
In Sydney, the audience was up 44 per cent, with 534,000 viewers and a peak of 705,000.
GWS coach Leon Cameron agreed with Matthews, saying a trial of a twilight game is more important than his own love of tradition.
“I love the romance of the 2.30pm bounce on Saturday afternoon, but that 4.40pm timeslot, as a viewer of sports up here, is a great timeslot,” he said.
Originally published as GWS Giants want twilight Grand Final to boost TV ratings in NSW and Queensland
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