Despite an historic crowd of over 100 thousand people, the AFL quickly reminded the NFL who owns this territory.
The blockbuster clash between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground drew a national total TV audience of 938,000, making it the most watched regular season NFL game ever on Seven.
The anticipation was at a high for fans with the NFL pre game even reaching 1.21 million and it had a national total TV audience of 526,000, while the post game reached 1.17 million and had 480,000 total TV viewers.
On the field it was the San Francisco 49ers who reigned victorious, running in three touchdowns to the Rams’ one for a 27-7 victory.
Despite a gallant effort from the NFL, the AFL’s Friday night finals game between the Fremantle Dockers and the Geelong Cats outshined the American sport with a reach of 2.66 million people and an average audience of 1.2 million people.
The first placed Fremantle Dockers fought back against a determined Cats side to book a spot in the grand final qualifier.
The real winner here was Seven, who broadcasted both the NFL and the AFL for its free-to-air audiences.
Thanks to both the AFL and the NRL being in its finals series, the weekend was dominated by sport. Seven and the AFL also clinched the top spot in the ratings on Saturday night.
And the absence of an AFL game on Sunday saw Nine and The Block come in at number one last night. The broadcast reached 2.55 million people and pulled in an average audience of 1.4 million.
