Home » OzTAM Ratings Fail To Capture Full Picture Of Weekend’s Grand Final Viewership

5 October, 2017

OzTAM Ratings Fail To Capture Full Picture Of Weekend’s Grand Final Viewership

A snap survey by research firm Roy Morgan has revealed a lot more Aussies watched both the AFL and NRL grand finals over the weekend than the traditional OzTAM figures would have us believe.

The survey taken on Sunday showed 8.4 million Australians aged 18-plus (44.5 per cent) watched the AFL grand final much higher than suggested by the official Channel 7 ‘5 City Metro’ ratings of 2.7 million.

A further survey taken on Monday showed 6.5 million Australians aged 18-plus (34.5 per cent) watched the NRL Grand Final again much higher than suggested by the official Channel 9 ‘5 City Metro’ ratings of 2.3 million.

AFL grand final is more popular in capital cities

Of the 8.4 million Australians that watched the AFL grand final over 5.7 million (30.5 per cent of Australia’s population aged 18-plus) primarily watched the game on TV including 3.8 million in the ‘5 City Metro’ area (a 31.5 per cent share of that market) and a further 1.9 million in the rest of Australia (a slightly lower, 28 per cent share of that market).

An additional 2.7 million Australians (14.2 per cent ) watched the game in another way either at a friend’s house, at the local pub/hotel, via an app or website, at the ground, or in another way not covered.

NRL grand final is more popular (proportionally) in rural and regional areas

Of the 6.5 million Australians that watched the NRL grand final nearly 4.9 million (25.5 per cent of Australia’s population aged 18-plus) primarily watched the game on TV including 2.8 million in the ‘5 City Metro’ area (a 23per cent share of that market) and a further two million in the rest of Australia (a higher 30 per cent share of that market).

An additional 1.6 million Australians (8.4 per cent) watched the game in another way either at a friend’s house, at the local pub/hotel, via an app or website, at the ground, or in another way not covered.

Commenting on the results, Roy Morgan’s executive chairman, Gary Morgan, said: “Special Roy Morgan Snap SMS Surveys taken after the AFL and NRL grand finals reveal far more Australians watched the two events than is revealed by traditional ‘5 City Metro’ aggregated viewing figures.

“The good news for grand final advertisers and sponsors is that millions of Australians watched the games on TV outside the traditional ‘5 City Metro’ markets and millions more again watched the games at a friend’s house, in a pub or hotel, at the ground or streaming via an app or website.

“The different time slots for the games also skewed the method used to watch the games. The Saturday afternoon ‘timeslot’ of the AFL grand final drew bigger audiences at pubs and hotels and watching at friend’s houses compared to the NRL grand final held in the evening.

“Streaming the Saturday afternoon AFL grand final via an app or website was more likely for metro area viewers (81,000) than those in the rest of Australia (18,000). The situation was reversed for the night-time NRL decider with more rural and regional viewers (57,000) of the NRL grand final streaming via an app or website compared to their ‘5 City Metro’ area counterparts (37,000).

“Interestingly, despite the larger audience of the AFL grand final than the NRL grand final – this difference was entirely a result of larger audiences in Australia’s five largest ‘Capital Cities’. There was little difference in the total viewers in the rest of Australia between the two matches with Roy Morgan showing the NRL grand final had a higher number of TV viewers outside the ‘5 City Metro’ area than the AFL grand final.”

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