AFL Grand Final 2022: TV ratings ‘worst in history’, push for night grand final

As poor as those grand final figures were, comparing them with last year’s Melbourne ratings is facile and irrelevant, writes Jon Ralph. Have your say.

Here is a simple question as the AFL digests the underwhelming ratings figures from Geelong’s cakewalk against Sydney amid fresh calls for a night grand final.

If you literally locked people in their houses, would there be a higher chance of them watching television than allowing them to party with friends on a glorious September day?

Because as poor as those grand final figures were, comparing them with last year’s Melbourne ratings is facile and irrelevant.

Last year’s ratings for the Melbourne-Dogs grand final in Perth delivered a national average audience of 3.91 million (3.01 million for a five-city metro) compared to Saturday’s 2.96 million average audience (2.179 million five-city metro).

For those with short memories, that absorbing contest with the game on the line until three-quarter time came with Melbourne citizens in full lockdown.

With a curfew in place the Victorian health department shared a reminder to “celebrate with your household” and “call a mate to heckle them”.

On Saturday with even public transport mask mandates officially gone and the weather perfect, why wouldn’t Melbourne residents get out of their houses for BBQs, bike rides, picnics and gatherings that might or might not include the football?

Brad Close celebrates a goal in Geelong’s one-sided grand final win. Picture: Michael Klein

The game was effectively over in 21 minutes, as Isaac Smith kicked Geelong’s fifth goal to end the game as a contest before quarter-time.

There might be an argument to push the grand final to twilight or night at some stage, but it isn’t by comparing it to lockdown numbers.

The ratings were almost identical to the 2019 grand final’s 2.197 million viewers, when GWS was at least in the contest until the 23-minute mark of the second quarter when Jack Riewoldt stretched the margin to 29 points.

The MCG has never looked better than on Saturday, when fans were literally dancing in the aisles to Robbie Williams in a pre-match show that might never be eclipsed.

The prelude was spectacular, the game was a write-off, the Cats got a full hour post-match for drawn-out speeches and victory laps and photos.

And there was still time for the media to access players for post-match TV and radio reviews and spectacular wraparound print editions before the Cats players drove down the highway for their intimate premiership function.

Here’s yesterday’s #TVratings with market splits for you to delve into, including NRL Prelim (and some more crushing results for the AFL there) 👀

[C: OzTAM, 5 City Metro, Preliminary] pic.twitter.com/y4gQzcz5HE

— Mr TV Australia (@MrTVAus) September 25, 2022

The AFL has its $4.5 billion TV deal, and while it would be wise not to unnecessarily test that ongoing relationship, the league made clear at the announcement only weeks ago it controls its fixture and grand final timing.

Seven chief executive James Warburton said on that day a night game would rate better, and no one would argue.

But an AFL Commission so keen to return the game to its traditions this year was rewarded by fans flocking back to football in the second half of this season.

Surely it will not cut and run for a twilight grand final on the evidence of a decider over quicker than any game since 2007.

Ratings bomb sparks fresh push for night grand final

Almost one million fewer people tuned into Saturday’s premiership decider, reigniting calls from Channel 7 boss James Warburton to push the grand final start time into twilight or night-time.

The Cats’ demolition of Sydney was deemed to be the one of the lowest-rating grand final in history.

OzTam ratings released on Sunday morning reveal that “2.179 million people’’ (average) watched Geelong’s obliteration of the Swans across the five-city metropolitan audience.

The initial figure of 2.179 was upgraded by Seven as they added 95,000 viewers from 7 Plus.

The figures are a blow to the traditional timeslot for the game, which was returned to the normal 2.30pm slot after two years as a night game.

The number is in comparison to 3.006 million viewers who tuned in when Melbourne saluted over the Western Bulldogs in a night timeslot in Perth in 2021.

Warburton said Seven would always support the AFL’s decision on when to play the grand final but believed the audience would grow in prime time.

“The numbers and comparisons are clear for all to see to support a prime time AFL grand final,” Warburton said.

“It’s a national game and a twilight or prime-time bounce will maximise the audience for the code.”

More than 100,000 fans crammed into the MCG for the 2022 grand final. Picture: Jason Edwards

Warburton has been on the record previously pushing for a later start to the grand final, but it wasn’t written into the latest AFL TV rights deal.

Saturday’s viewer numbers marked an 800,000 drop on 12 months ago while the 2020 grand final raked in 2.979 million viewers.

More than 1.7 million people stayed tuned in on Saturday for the presentations after the game and the on-ground celebrations of the Cats.

“At first blush the ratings for yesterday’s grand final are a bit of a disappointment – especially considering that Sydney has featured in some of the highest rating grand finals of all time,” TV expert Colin Vickery told the Herald Sun.

“There are likely a range of factors at play, including lockdowns last year leading to especially strong figures for the 2021 grand final (particularly in Melbourne), the fact that Victoria is in the midst of school holidays and a lot of families would be away overseas, the one-sided nature of the match (effectively over by quarter-time), and that there were no metro Melbourne teams involved.”

Managing Director of Seven Melbourne Lewis Martin said: “Seven’s 2022 AFL grand final audience is up nationally on the last daytime final in 2019 between Richmond and the GWS Giants.

“On 7 plus, an additional 95,000 viewers watched Geelong Cats triumph over the Sydney Swans on connected TVs, with 14 million minutes streamed.”

Seven also moved to differentiate “reaching a national audience of 5.76 million (viewers who watched some of the match) and averaging 2.96 million (viewers who watched the whole match), suggesting a massive drop-off came as a result of how one-sided the game was.