Foxtel is poised to smash revenue and audience records for its coverage of the AFL this season.
As the new seven-year, $4.5 billion broadcast deal struck between the AFL, Channel Seven and Foxtel is about to kick off, Foxtel chiefs are banking on exclusive rights to Saturday matches in Victoria and Tasmania, as well for at least the first eight rounds in other states, will not only deliver a 30 per cent lift in audiences, but also far greater advertising and sponsorship revenues.
Given that Fox Footy audiences grew by 38 per cent across both Kayo and Foxtel last season, including seven of its ten largest game figures of all time, that’s quite a lofty target but one in which Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain is confident, and for good reason.
He told B&T that sponsorship revenue across AFL and NRL is already up 30 per cent year on year, with many NRL brands expanding their investment into AFL because of the live Saturday coverage.
“We’ve had our most successful ever sponsorship negotiation season across both codes, but particularly with the AFL because that’s where the quantum change in rights has given us a newer and bigger story to tell,” Frain said just over a week before the season starts.
“When both codes kick off, we’ll have a record breaking staff the year in sponsorship revenue across all our major partners.
“The industry is voting with its wallets significantly in double digit terms. So I think that gives us real great confidence that we’re going to deliver not only the audience they’ve promised, but probably a bit more.”
Major sponsors that have already lined up for the AFL include McDonald’s, AAMI, LG, Harvey Norman, Sportsbet, Toyota and Coles. New sponsors include BP, Lion, Jameson, HBF, LG, Vodafone and Aussie Broadband.
New brands line up
It’s not just the usual suspects that will be investing in Fox Footy. Frain predicts north of 100 new and smaller advertisers could also join the party this season, particularly state-based brands that buy Fox Footy advertising spots programmatically.
“When you combine the Kayo and Binge streaming platforms, you are talking about 3 million customers nationally and when you break that down by state, we’ve ever that scale of audience to sell from,” he explained.
“The programmatic trading growth we’ve had as a business is north of 100 per cent at the moment year-on-year. A lot of that growth is from new brands. If you take that run rate of 100% growth on programmatic trading before the season starts, it’s only going to increase, and the majority of that will be new brands coming on board.”
Fox Footy general manager Michael Neill said that AFL fans can expect around 20 per cent more live coverage of AFL this season.
This includes Saturday coverage from midday to midnight, including three to four games on Saturday each week.
“Last year, we ended up producing about 37 hours a week of live content. That’ll lift up to around like 44 hours a week of live TV. So it’s going to be a pretty decent jump on a production level,” he said.
Fox Footy is also providing its own commentary across all of the games it covers – previously it would use Seven’s commentary feed for certain games – and giving its production and sets a new lick of paint.
“When we rolled out our own commentary with the NRL, our share of audience grew – the fans loved it. We’re going to make Fox Footy a one stop shop for AFL.”
Neill said that a lot of the advertising and brand integrations will occur in magazine shows surrounding the live games.
“It’s not just slapping a logo on a graphic, and that’ll do like there’s a very we want to make a really harmonious, fully integrated integration. When we do it so that it feels organic, it feels natural, it doesn’t feel forced.”
Fox Footy coverage highlights
- Hall of Famer Leigh Matthews and AFL greats Adam Simpson, Shaun Burgoyne and Tom Hawkins join the Fox Footy line-up for season 2025.
- Garry Lyon steps into the co-hosting seat alongside Gerard Whateley for AFL360, Monday to Wednesday at 6.30pm.
- Jack Riewoldt will host On The Couch alongside rotating experts Jonathan Brown, Nathan Buckley, Jordan Lewis and Leigh Montagna every Monday at 7.30pm.
- Respected journalist Lauren Wood will host the expert panel for Midweek Tackle, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7.30pm. Corbin Middlemas also joins the show and commentary team.
- Thursday Night Footy will be hosted by Sarah Jones alongside Jason Dunstall, David King and Leigh Montagna, with Mark Howard and Matt Hill on the call.
- Friday Night Footy will be hosted by Garry Lyon alongside Jonathan Brown, Nathan Buckley and Jordan Lewis, with the expert pairing of Gerard Whateley and Anthony Hudson calling the match.
- Kath Loughnan, Jack Riewoldt and David King will host ‘Super Saturday LIVE’ from the Fox Footy studios, with our commentary and special comments teams live from around the grounds.
- Bounce returns every Sunday after the footy, hosted by Jason Dunstall with Andrew Gaze, Cam Mooney, Ruby Schleicher, Ben Dixon and Bernie Vince.
- Following Bounce, trusted AFL voice Jay Clark will be joined by David King and Leigh Montagna for First CrackThe 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership season gets underway on Thursday, 6 March with 2024 Premiers Brisbane taking on Geelong.
