AFL Finals Fever has officially hit Seven with the … showdown between Collingwood Magpies and Adelaide Crows hitting a total TV national reach of 2,740,000 and a national average over 1,094,000 – placing it in first for the night among the non-news programs.
Adelaide’s long-awaited return to finals footy didn’t bring the redemption story fans were hoping for. After eight years of waiting since their painful 2017 Grand Final defeat, the Crows were sent crashing back to earth by a polished Collingwood, falling by 24 points.
With a final shot at glory next week, Adelaide’s fate hangs in the balance.
The NRL’s final round showdown between Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm paled in comparison with a national average of only 386,000.
With a 30-14 win over the Storm, the Broncos secured a top-four finish but found themselves at the centre of controversy after Kotoni Staggs escaped the sin-bin for a blatant professional foul on Xavier Coates. While the referee awarded a penalty, fans and commentators argued Staggs should have been binned for deliberately preventing a clear try-scoring opportunity.
With finals underway on the AFL side and NRL just a week away, Nine and Seven will be expecting a big uptick in viewership as both codes race toward the big game.
