The Footy Show slumps as viewership hits record low

CHANNEL Nine’s AFL Footy Show has hit an all-time low, recording its worst rating since the show first aired in 1994.

A fixture of Australian television, The Footy Show's 2017 campaign has stumbled out of the gates Sam Newman and Hutchy's funny history . Picture: Twitter

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CHANNEL Nine’s AFL Footy Show has hit an all-time low, recording its worst ratings since the show first aired in 1994.

The Thursday night show competed with the West Coast — Sydney match on Fox Footy but the free-to-air channel was more than up against it.

Recording a Melbourne metro audience of just 127,000 compared to an average audience of 172,000 the week before, the show was down on viewers.

Craig Hutchison and Sam Newman on the first episode of the 2017 season of The Footy Show. Picture: Supplied

In a bid to boost audiences the AFL Footy Show launched a behind-the-scenes style podcast on Friday which will be available to download weekly.

Hosted by Craig Hutchison and Rebecca Maddern, the podcast panel will also include Sam Newman, Billy Brownless and other well-known names from the show.

@Robbo_heraldsun Who was the idiot that put a footy show up against live footy? Stupidity at its finest. I'm surprised those 127000 people watched it

— Karen (@kazza_1961) April 14, 2017

@Robbo_heraldsun Been irrelevant for several years. Doesn't talk footy and same old people on all the time. And don't get me started on Sam Newman #boring

— Catherine Houston (@Chouston3) April 14, 2017

The post-show debrief will discuss what happened on air and also go into details about what is going on in the panel’s personal lives outside of the show.

In other footy news, Seven have reported strong ratings for the inaugural Good Friday AFL match between the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, with the ratings peaking at 1.064 million viewers.

Read more: Dave Hughes cops it on Twitter for Footy Show performance... again

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