AFL plans to use a Friday night program full of marquee contests to boost its falling ratings

The Commonwealth Games and a poor Friday night fixture combined to send TV ratings down over 12 per cent last year. The AFL is refusing to stand for that again, with the league unleashing its plan for a major boost in 2019.

The AFL believes its blockbuster opening to the AFL season and a Friday night program full of marquee contests can reverse last year’s 12 per cent ratings fall.

The league kicks off the third season of a six-year TV broadcast period adamant it again has the right fixture mix to send ratings skyward.

The AFL season starts with a run of five Thursday games, with the league unapologetically fixturing the best teams on Friday night after last year’s disastrous Carlton experiment.

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Last year’s seven Thursday night games were a ratings smash hit, exceeding the average audience for Friday night games.

Friday nights were down from an average of 1.14 million viewers across both Seven and Fox Footy in 2017 to 958,000 last year.

The AFL’s general manager of clubs and broadcasting Travis Auld confirmed in the league’s annual general report this week overall ratings had finished down.

Carlton struggled in Friday night matches last year. Picture: AAP Images

The average gross national audience across Seven and Foxtel was down 12.7 per cent per cent, while the gross cumulative national audience in the home-and-away season was 89.3 million, down from 102.3 million in 2017.

“The season presented some challenges, with overall television industry ratings experiencing a year-on-year decline, while the early part of the season was disrupted by the national television coverage of the Commonwealth Games on the Seven Network,” he wrote.

This year Grand Finalist Collingwood has been handed 11 prime time clashes, including Thursday and Friday night clashes, Anzac Day and Queens Birthday.

Essendon has eight, and Richmond seven including the Anzac Eve contest against Melbourne which is quickly reaching blockbuster status.

This year that fixture is part of a run of games in Rounds 5-6 that sees football played on 11 of 12 days around Easter and Anzac Day.

Fremantle, St Kilda and the Gold Coast don’t have a Thursday or Friday night clash for the year, with Carlton handed just one Thursday night clash.

The league will be keen to maximise ratings as it enters the second half of its broadcast deal, with networks having outlaid $1.25 billion for the six-season deal.