TV ratings: A-League season restart swamped by Super Rugby, Formula One, NRL and AFL
The A-League has been dealt a harsh reminder of the challenges it faces in the Australian sporting landscape – with its season restart getting hammered in the ratings by Super Rugby and Formula One.
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The A-League’s TV ratings crisis has been laid bare, with football slaughtered not only by heavyweights AFL and NRL this weekend – but also the much-maligned Super Rugby.
The A-League is looking for suitors to show the competition long-term, having been signed up to Fox Sports until the end of next season, but the opening weekend raised red flags galore.
Six times as many people watched Super Rugby over the weekend and nine times as many tuned in for the Formula One qualifying.
But after a four-month shutdown due to COVID-19, the A-League’s return fell flat with fans – with a paltry 9000 tuning in for Saturday night’s showdown between Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners.
Friday night’s season restarter, a potential grand final preview between league leaders Sydney FC and chief rivals Wellington Phoenix, fared marginally better with 12,000 viewers.
With crowds largely locked out due to COVID-19 restrictions – 1,796 attended the Sydney FC victory – it was hoped TV numbers would receive a boost.
On the same night, 804,000 switched on to watch Wests Tigers destroy Brisbane in the NRL (539,000 on free-to-air, and a further 265,000 on Fox Sports) and a whopping 978,000 (782,000 free-to-air, 196,000 on Fox Sports) watched Western Bulldogs hammer Essendon in the AFL.
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The numbers were just as alarming on Saturday, with 490,000 punters tuning into Channel 7’s Saturday night AFL coverage, while Manly’s victory over Parramatta entertained 282,000 NRL fans, compared to the lowly Glory-Mariners ratings.
The startling figures come a week after former Socceroo and Fox Football analyst Robbie Slater declared the next 12 months to be “the most critical of its 15-year existence”.
“Next season is critical, for the A-League, for FFA, for the clubs and for everyone in the game to show Fox why they should continue — or show anyone why it should be a viable product,” Slater wrote in a News Corp column.
And most worrying for FFA officials will how the A-League ratings stack up against Super Rugby, which drew an audience of 53,000 for the Waratahs-Brumbies clash on Saturday night, while 83,000 watched Lewis Hamilton claim pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The restructured fixtures post-COVID-19 has games played almost every day for the remainder of the regular season, continuing on Tuesday night with Sydney FC seeking to wrap up the premier’s plate against Newcastle Jets.