The 2026 NRL Telstra Premiership season delivered its ninth consecutive year of audience growth on Kayo SPORTS, a DAZN company, with average audiences increasing nine per cent year-on-year (YoY), making it the most watched ever on the platform.
Across the regular season, 6.4 billion minutes were streamed on Kayo SPORTS, with the season also becoming the most watched ever across all Foxtel Group platforms including FOXTEL, FOXTEL Go, FOXTEL Now, Kayo SPORTS and BINGE.
All teams recorded YoY viewership growth across the season with the Brisbane Broncos recording the highest average audience of the season and cross city rival, The Dolphins, recording the biggest YoY audience percentage growth across all teams.
The Penrith Panthers and the North Queensland Cowboys delivered the second and third highest average audiences across the season respectively.
Leading into Round 7, the Wests Tigers was on a super run. Winning its first three out of four games, placing the tram in the top four. On Round 7 it matched up against the reigning premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. This match up was the most-watched regular season match of the season, and of all time.
Fans were treated to an Adam Reynolds special, with the Broncos halfback landing a late field goal to secure a thrilling 21-20 victory.
Sydney Roosters v Brisbane Broncos in Round 9 was the second most-watched match of the season, as Reece Walsh returned from injury and the Roosters held off a second-half Broncos comeback to secure a 38-24 win.
The season opener in Las Vegas delivered two of the five most-watched matches of the season, with Newcastle Knights v North Queensland Cowboys and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v St George Illawarra Dragons ranking third and fourth respectively.
As always, Magic Round did very well. This is the round where all games for that week are played at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
The 2026 Magic Round was not only the most watched round of the year, it was also the most watched regular season NRL round of all time on Kayo SPORTS with 304 million minutes streamed.
Sydney Roosters v North Queensland Cowboys at Magic Round rounded out the five most-watched matches of the season, with the Cowboys pulling off an 18-12 upset. The game was also the number one performing regular season 5.30pm slot of all time.
“Nine consecutive years of growth is an outstanding result and speaks to the strength of the world-class coverage we continue to deliver on Kayo SPORTS every week, the strength of rugby league and the passion of its fans,” said FOX SPORTS Managing Director Steve Crawley.
“We’ve been proud partners of the NRL for 30 years and this year recommitted to that partnership through to 2034. Every year we invest more than $1 billion in sports rights and production, making us Australia’s largest investor in sport outside of government. That investment supports the game from grassroots to the elite level, enabling more innovation across our coverage to bring fans closer to the action than ever before.
“With the competition expanding in 2027 and DAZN extending the reach of the NRL into 200 markets around the world, we have an opportunity to build on that momentum and take the game to more fans than ever before. But first – let’s bring on the action from the Finals Series.”
Every game of the NRL finals series up until the grand final will be broadcast live and ad-break free during play on Kayo SPORTS and FOXTEL, with dedicated Fox League commentary.
