Rugby League Australia most popular sport?

[Young Blood]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/12/06/what-is-australias-most-popular-sport/

Interesting read. 

[Man of Kent]

153.05 million total viewing figures for the NRL season + SOO + internationals inc. RLWC. That’s just under x6 the 25.74m population of Australia.

To match that in the UK (67.33m), we’d need ratings of 400m. What was it in reality? 40m, 45m?

[Tosh]

NRL&SOO are #1 code on TV but AFL is Australia’s #1 code overall.

[Copa]

I don’t know where they got their stats from but it seems to leave out the huge numbers who play in social touch football and oztag leagues.

Maybe the stats for sports teams in the article cover club competitions.

It’s very common to see fields covered with oztag and touch football during the season and it’s predominantly older children and adults who play with an even gender mix.

Oztag and Touch football are also on TV at times.

I’d confidently say that “rugby” in all its forms combined (union, league, touch, oztag, 7s, 9s) would be the biggest sport in Australia.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Copa

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

I don’t know where they got their stats from but it seems to leave out the huge numbers who play in social touch football and oztag leagues.

Maybe the stats for sports teams in the article cover club competitions.

It’s very common to see fields covered with oztag and touch football during the season and it’s predominantly older children and adults who play with an even gender mix.

Oztag and Touch football are also on TV at times.

I’d confidently say that “rugby” in all its forms combined (union, league, touch, oztag, 7s, 9s) would be the biggest sport in Australia.

Oztag is not governed by RL. Touch in Australia is though.

[Pulga]

3 hours ago, Tosh said:

NRL&SOO are #1 code on TV but AFL is Australia’s #1 code overall.

How so?

That article was a pretty good breakdown.

Total all eyeballs on the game and RL comes out on top.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Pulga

[Tosh]

51 minutes ago, Pulga said:

How so?

That article was a pretty good breakdown.

Total all eyeballs on the game and RL comes out on top.

Attendances.

[Dirkgee]

Good grief. The comments on that article are a mess. Australians really go full on into hating each of the sports they don't like.

The 4 North American sports don't generate this much hate over a persons favourite sport

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Tosh said:

Attendances.

One metric?

[ELBOWSEYE]

1 hour ago, Tosh said:

Attendances.

In the world of tv viewing figures its the total of people watching the games which the survey showed attendees and on tv not just one area. 

[Welshleaguelover]

Rugby League is the bigger TV sport because more rugby league fans will watch more games of rugby league.

Aussie rules has more fans for its individual clubs.

Aussie rules is most popular in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Rugby League is most popular in NSW and Queensland. Which is pretty much half the population.

However, Aussie rules is a bigger deal in NSW and Queensland in comparison to rugby league in the Aussie rules dominanted states.

 

[Dunbar]

7 hours ago, Tosh said:

NRL&SOO are #1 code on TV but AFL is Australia’s #1 code overall.

 

2 hours ago, Tosh said:

Attendances.

So, you use one metric to determine the 'overall' winner.  Interesting. 

[bamfordsbeans]

RL only the 11th most popular in terms of participation.

They need to get their house in order.

[Copa]

7 hours ago, Pulga said:

Oztag is not governed by RL. Touch in Australia is though.

My point is that oztag and union are still a form of rugby that contributes to “rugby” being the biggest sports family in Australia.

[eal]

AFL has a uniquely fanatical fan base that NRL doesn't have. Attendances at AFL games are insane.

[hw88]

Was in WA a few years ago and watched South Fremantle v Peel Panthers(?). The final quarter seemed to be of indeterminate length - anyone know why? It would have been useful to have had a telescope for when the action was on the far side of the field!

[Sports Prophet]

The one thing that needs to be remembered with tv stats is:

1. Total viewers are dramatically less likely to be unique viewers than physical attendees.

2. AFL have many fixtures that overlap each other. This means on many occasions, there will be two fixtures on at one time. This reducing the opportunity for “repeat” viewers like League which only ever has one fixture playing at any one time.

Other stats favouring AFL that are not brought to attention in the article include the Sydney Swans being the biggest sports club in NSW. Brisbane Bears attendances rival the Broncos in a successful season. Melbourne Storm could not deliver similarly favourable stats as a one city club in non heartland territory.

AFL also commands sensationally more corporate investment than League, demonstrating itself to have more influence over the behaviours, lifestyle and spending of its fans. The larger worth of the tv contracts will attest to that.

The post is a good one and NRL has dramatically closed the gap on AFL, but in my opinion, Australian Rules is still the nation’s #1.

[Dunbar]

26 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

1. Total viewers are dramatically less likely to be unique viewers than physical attendees.

I don't know how you come to this conclusion.  I would imagine that there are a core of fans in all sports that attend every game in a club's season and so every one of these will be counted every time in the total number of attendees. 

It may be impossible to know whether tv or in person represents more unique individuals as a proportion of the whole but I would just assume in person.

Whatever the actual answer, I don't think one is 'dramatically' more than the other.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Dunbar

[Pulga]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

The one thing that needs to be remembered with tv stats is:

1. Total viewers are dramatically less likely to be unique viewers than physical attendees.

2. AFL have many fixtures that overlap each other. This means on many occasions, there will be two fixtures on at one time. This reducing the opportunity for “repeat” viewers like League which only ever has one fixture playing at any one time.

Other stats favouring AFL that are not brought to attention in the article include the Sydney Swans being the biggest sports club in NSW. Brisbane Bears attendances rival the Broncos in a successful season. Melbourne Storm could not deliver similarly favourable stats as a one city club in non heartland territory.

AFL also commands sensationally more corporate investment than League, demonstrating itself to have more influence over the behaviours, lifestyle and spending of its fans. The larger worth of the tv contracts will attest to that.

The post is a good one and NRL has dramatically closed the gap on AFL, but in my opinion, Australian Rules is still the nation’s #1.

Let's not forget that this article didn't even count that one club isn't in the same country and their viewership isn't counted in this. So it's AFL's 18 clubs V NRL's 15 Aussie clubs.

The Melbourne Storm are a the second most attended rugby club (either code) in the world. They're doing just fine.

The higher TV deal is because Peter V'landys is a complete puppet and also an AFL game is longer and container 3 breaks for advertisers.

[Sports Prophet]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

I don't know how you come to this conclusion.  I would imagine that there are a core of fans in all sports that attend every game in a club's season and so every one of these will be counted every time in the total number of attendees. 

It may be impossible to know whether tv or in person represents more unique individuals as a proportion of the whole but I would just assume in person.

Whatever the actual answer, I don't think one is 'dramatically' more than the other.

You have misunderstood me. What I said was…

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

1. Total viewers are dramatically less likely to be unique viewers than physical attendees.

There are a dramatic less likely amount of individuals that will attend multiple fixtures in a single weekend vs individuals watching multiple broadcasts in a single weekend.

So what I am saying is, over a course of a weekend televised/streamed viewing figures, many of those kpi’s will be duplicates of the same individual, whereas the kpi’s from attendances are far less likely to be duplicates of the same individual.

To further this duplicate of individuals, as I mentioned earlier, the AFL may have as many as five games in a weekend that overlap each other. This reduces the AFL’s opportunity to bump their avg fixture televised/streaming viewing figure kpi’s, because one individual cannot watch two televised/streamed fixtures at one time. No more than one NRL fixture is played at any one time. The NRL does not encounter this problem.

Individuals attending fixtures regularly are likely to be more financially invested in their club (ticket purchases, match day spending, merch purchases) than those that predominantly watch on tv. This is another theory that has been neglected in the article.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Sports Prophet

[Sports Prophet]

8 minutes ago, Pulga said:

The Melbourne Storm are a the second most attended rugby club (either code) in the world. They're doing just fine.

Are they? I don’t know. No French Union clubs challenging that claim?

I agree, they are doing very well and in no way was I trying to insinuate otherwise.

[Young Blood]

3 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

The one thing that needs to be remembered with tv stats is:

1. Total viewers are dramatically less likely to be unique viewers than physical attendees.

2. AFL have many fixtures that overlap each other. This means on many occasions, there will be two fixtures on at one time. This reducing the opportunity for “repeat” viewers like League which only ever has one fixture playing at any one time.

Other stats favouring AFL that are not brought to attention in the article include the Sydney Swans being the biggest sports club in NSW. Brisbane Bears attendances rival the Broncos in a successful season. Melbourne Storm could not deliver similarly favourable stats as a one city club in non heartland territory.

AFL also commands sensationally more corporate investment than League, demonstrating itself to have more influence over the behaviours, lifestyle and spending of its fans. The larger worth of the tv contracts will attest to that.

The post is a good one and NRL has dramatically closed the gap on AFL, but in my opinion, Australian Rules is still the nation’s #1.

I was at bar in cogee with 5 swans players in it and no one knew who they were, while Will Kennedy a solid nrl players had 4-5 people ask for a photo.  Attending games is expensive when all costs taken into account plus is you live an hour away your less likely to visit games but your still a fan so TV is best indication. 

Rugby League had 23m eyeballs for then those points you brought up may indicate gap is closer but not enough 

 

[Young Blood]

12 hours ago, Dirkgee said:

Good grief. The comments on that article are a mess. Australians really go full on into hating each of the sports they don't like.

The 4 North American sports don't generate this much hate over a persons favourite sport

Mainly soccer and afl fans as many soccer fans believe best soccer talent goes to afl. 

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Young Blood said:

I was at bar in cogee with 5 swans players in it and no one knew who they were, while Will Kennedy a solid nrl players had 4-5 people ask for a photo.  Attending games is expensive when all costs taken into account plus is you live an hour away your less likely to visit games but your still a fan so TV is best indication. 

Rugby League had 23m eyeballs for then those points you brought up may indicate gap is closer but not enough 

 

Attending games is expensive, thus validating my point that by having greater number of physical attendees does bode much better for the sport financially and personal investment, than televised viewers.

As per my discussion with @Dunbar, tv kpi’s are a great indicator, but not a sole indicator where those televised kpi’s are more likely to be doubling, tripling or quadrupling a very good proportion of eyeballs over the course of one weekend. I know I mainly watch three to four NRL games a weekend and just one AFL game.

That 5 Swans players were not recognised in an Eastern Suburbs bar whilst a Cronulla Sharks fullback was, does not deviate from the fact that the Sydney Swans are NSW’s biggest sports club.

[Young Blood]

17 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Attending games is expensive, thus validating my point that by having greater number of physical attendees does bode much better for the sport financially and personal investment, than televised viewers.

As per my discussion with @Dunbar, tv kpi’s are a great indicator, but not a sole indicator where those televised kpi’s are more likely to be doubling, tripling or quadrupling a very good proportion of eyeballs over the course of one weekend. I know I mainly watch three to four NRL games a weekend and just one AFL game.

That 5 Swans players were not recognised in an Eastern Suburbs bar whilst a Cronulla Sharks fullback was, does not deviate from the fact that the Sydney Swans are NSW’s biggest sports club.

Swans are biggest in terms of members but not tv viewers or money generated also goes to point afl better seen live , NRL better on tv.  its insane . Article talks about popularity not passion or makes most money the difference of 23m is overwhelming