The free to air ratings for Thursday and Friday night football are in – and it’s delivered a result the AFL would be rapt with.
Across two of the most important slots in the last week, the AFL soundly beat the NRL in the crucial ratings battle.
Geelong’s big win over Brisbane at the SCG was viewed by an average metro audience of 772,000 on Channel 7, compared to 314,000 on Channel 9 for North Queensland’s NRL clash against the Sydney Roosters.
It was a similar story on Friday night, with an average metro free to air audience of 573,000 tuning in for Collingwood’s clash against Hawthorn.
By comparison, an average metro audience of just 307,000 people tuned in for South Sydney’s match against the Wests Tigers.
It’s set to be another bumper round of AFL action next weekend, with Geelong taking on Collingwood in front of up to 30,000 on Thursday night followed by Essendon’s clash against the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium on Friday night.