NRL grand final tv ratings
(Image: AAP/Dean Lewins)

With the NRL grand final, Nine was always going to win the ratings. The national audience for the men’s game fell sharply to just 2.64 million, down 11% from 3.03 million in 2018. But the women’s grand final (won for the second year in a row by the Brisbane Broncos) there was a higher audience to boast about — 513,000, up 11% from 2018’s 461,000.

That was also a lot better than the men’s state championship, between the two best second-tier clubs from Queensland and NSW — 342,000 on Sunday against 603,000 in 2018. The improvement in the women’s audience and fall for the state championship was due to the start times being reversed from 2018, with the women’s final playing later in the day where the men’s final had been played in 2018. The switch paid off for Nine and the NRL.

The start of daylight saving also impacted audience sizes in the morning and early evening (as it does every year). But oddly not for Insiders on the ABC and News 24, which saw its audience pick up to 506,000 yesterday against 498,000 the week before and 494,000 the week before that. In regional markets, it was all about the NRL grand final match which topped the night with 755,000, then the grand final presentation with 439,000, Seven News with 403,000, the NRL grand final entertainment was fourth with 397,000 and Nine/NBN News with 337,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (46.4%)
  2. Seven(23.3%)
  3. ABC (11.3%)
  4. Ten (10.4%)
  5. SBS (8.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (28.8%)
  2. Seven (15.2%)
  3. ABC (7.7%)
  4. Ten (5.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (3.1%)
  2. GO,7TWO (2.9%)
  3. 7mate (3.2%)
  4. 9Life (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. NRL Grand Final – Game (Nine) — 2.641 million
  2. NRL Grand Final – Presentations (Nine) — 1.523 million
  3. NRL Grand Final – Entertainment (Nine) — 1.336 million
  4. Seven News — 1.255 million
  5. Nine News — 1.200 million
  6. 7pm ABC News — 785,000
  7. The Real Dirty Dancing (Seven) — 773,000
  8. Sunday Night (Seven) — 697,000
  9. Grand Designs: The Street (ABC) — 551,000
  10. NRL Women’s Grand Final (Nine) — 513,000

Top metro programs:

  1. NRL Grand Final – Game (Nine) — 1.866 million
  2. NRL Grand Final – Presentations (Nine) — 1.0843 million

Losers: The unfortunate Canberra Raiders.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 864,000
  2. Seven News —853,000
  3. 7pm ABC News – 508,000
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 472,000
  5. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 276,000
  6. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) —198,000
  7. Ten Eyewitness News — 183,000 at 4pm
  8. SBS World News — 147,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 506,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) —385,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 364,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 252,000
  5. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 214,000
  6. Offsiders (ABC) —190,000