Grand final ratings disaster for Channel 9
The NRL grand final wasn’t just a disaster for the league with the ongoing referee scandal — it turned out to be a flop for host broadcaster Channel 9 as well.
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The NRL grand final wasn’t just a disaster for the league with the ongoing referee scandal — it turned out to be a flop for host broadcaster Channel 9 as well.
The controversial clash between the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra Raiders registered a national five city metro viewing audience of 1.866 million people, marking the first time that figure has dropped below two million since OzTam launched in 2003.
Last year’s grand final between the Roosters and Melbourne Storm attracted 2.14 million five city metro viewers with the previous lowest decider match between Melbourne and Manly Sea Eagles in 2008 registering 2.05 million viewers.
The NRL disaster matched the similarly down ratings for the AFL grand final last week, which dropped 20 per cent to produce the lowest audience in 26 years with 2.19 million.
“It is partly due to the continuing downward trend of free-to-air TV audiences,” commentator and Mediaweek editor James Manning said.
“People used to think sport would withstand that trend but it hasn’t. It is also because the Raiders and the Roosters don’t have a large supporter base.”
Breaking down the viewership figures, the biggest TV audience was in Sydney with 832,000 people tuning in compared to 892,000 in 2018. Melbourne suffered the biggest drop with 320,000 viewers this year, compared to 551,000 last year.
There was a lot of criticism of the content too.
Mal Meninga blowing the horn at the start of the Viking clap featured only briefly while presenter James Bracey talked as players ran on to the field.
Some of the on-field interviews after the match also drew criticism, including an awkward moment when Darren Lockyer asked Roosters star Brett Morris what it was like playing in back-to-back grand finals when it was actually his first season with the team.
Originally published as Grand final ratings disaster for Channel 9
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