2025 NRL`s Best season ever.

[The Rocket]

 

 

NRL 2025, Rugby League No.1 across 2025 in total viewership, 16-39s and digital engagement | NRL.com

A pretty phenomenal year:

Rugby league No.1 in total viewership, 16-39s and digital engagement

Author

NRL.com

Timestamp

Wed 1 Oct 2025, 07:54 AM

As the NRL heads towards a fitting climax to a record-breaking season at Accor Stadium on Sunday, figures have revealed that Rugby League was No.1 across 2025 in total viewership, 16-39s and digital engagement.

"We've had a phenomenal season, we've broken records, the response from our fans has been incredible and that's because the football has been incredible," said NRL CEO Andrew Abdo at Monday's spectacular grand final launch on Sydney Harbour.

"We have Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney represented, and we have the New Zealand Warriors and the Burleigh Bears represented in the State Championships so that's three massive games of football."

As the No.1 sport in Australia and the Pacific, the NRL is delivering not only more total viewers on average than any other sporting code in Australia, it is also delivering more 16-39 viewers.

• On the back of a record ratings year, the NRL has registered enormous growth throughout the 2025 Finals, with Finals matches up 32% on average.
• Six of the eight NRL Finals matches have sold out, with attendance records broken across each of the three weeks, as well as record television ratings beating all other sporting codes.
• The Broncos vs Panthers Preliminary Final delivered a historic result – setting a new record as the most-watched single broadcast in Foxtel Group history across all sports with 943,000 viewers, alongside a record-breaking 1.76 million viewers on Nine. The Storm v Sharks game was the second most watched NRL match on Fox in history.
• All three weeks of the Finals have delivered record viewership:

- Finals W1 Australian Total Audience: 6.4m (up +27% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 422k (up +39% YoY)
- Finals W2 Australian Total Audience: 3.6m (up +34% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 205k (up +80% YoY)
- Finals W3 Australian Total Audience: 5.0m (up +36% YoY); NZ Total Audience: 241k (up +19% YoY).

 

We're underway!

 

We're underway!

Two key areas have exploded across NRL Season 2025; viewership in the critical 16-39 demographic as well as digital engagement across all formats.

• Finals viewership for 16-39 audiences across Finals Weeks 1 to 3 is up 54% year on year.
• Across the NRL regular season, 16-39 audiences for FTA were up 18% for Thursday nights, 27% for Friday nights and 5% for Sunday afternoons.
• 16-39 viewership of State of Origin was up 19% across the 3 games. 

 

What a welcome

 

What a welcome

Across digital channels the NRL has had a year of record engagement and audience traffic. The NRL is the most consumed sport for paid and free streaming services in Australia. 

• Video consumption on NRL.com and the NRL app is up 116% year on year.
• The NRL now has more than 4 million registered NRL ID users, delivering the largest first party data sets of fans and participants in Australian sport.
• Average users per week on the NRL app increased by 8%, while average session times per user increased 9% year on year.
• NRL social channels on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X have a market leading 8.7 million+ combined total followers.
• Total social audience engagement is up 10.5% in 2025.  

Australia and the Pacific's No.1 sport is on track to smash records again in 2025, with all metrics tracking strongly. 

• Total NRL TV audiences year to date are on track to be up 9%.
• Live match attendance across the regular NRL season eclipsed 4 million people, and NRL Club memberships are at record levels.
• Internationally, the Watch NRL streaming product has grown 9% across 2025.
• Australian only participation is set to smash last year's mark of over 1.1m (touch, tag and tackle), including a record-breaking 50K female club participants.
• NRLW viewership and attendance across the year is up with TV viewership up 45%, with crowds up 115%. 

Interesting that the NRL are keen to highlight the 16 - 39 year old`s and social media engagement. I suppose this is where the future lies.

 

[Damien]

There's been plenty of great news coming out of the NRL this year and its pushed on yet again going by various metrics. It really is booming.

This really should all translate into a bumper next TV deal, I think some of the figures mentioned so far are too conservative for how the NRL is performing.

[Copa]

Fantastic news 

[The Rocket]

Brands Pile Into Foxtel As Broncos & Storm Prepare For Blockbuster NRL Grand Final - B&T

"Speaking to B&T, Nev Hasan, chief sales officer at Foxtel Media, said the 2025 season has been “fantastic” across both platforms. The platform has welcomed more than 30 integrated partners across Fox League this season, including eight new brands making their debut across Foxtel Media platforms."

"Heading into Sunday’s decider, inventory is tight. “At this point in the season, we’re almost completely sold out, a great sign of the demand and confidence brands have in the NRL Finals,” Hasan said. “Scale on Kayo is at an all-time high, making this a prime moment for advertisers to tap into one of the most engaged sporting audiences in Australia.”

Foxtel Media is already planning for 2026. Hasan flagged the NRL season opener in Las Vegas, featuring six new rugby league teams, as a major advertising moment


I think Vegas will be huge next year and wouldn`t downplay its` role in the bumper years we are seeing.

[The Future is League]

On 01/10/2025 at 21:40, The Rocket said:

Brands Pile Into Foxtel As Broncos & Storm Prepare For Blockbuster NRL Grand Final - B&T

"Speaking to B&T, Nev Hasan, chief sales officer at Foxtel Media, said the 2025 season has been “fantastic” across both platforms. The platform has welcomed more than 30 integrated partners across Fox League this season, including eight new brands making their debut across Foxtel Media platforms."

"Heading into Sunday’s decider, inventory is tight. “At this point in the season, we’re almost completely sold out, a great sign of the demand and confidence brands have in the NRL Finals,” Hasan said. “Scale on Kayo is at an all-time high, making this a prime moment for advertisers to tap into one of the most engaged sporting audiences in Australia.”

Foxtel Media is already planning for 2026. Hasan flagged the NRL season opener in Las Vegas, featuring six new rugby league teams, as a major advertising moment


I think Vegas will be huge next year and wouldn`t downplay its` role in the bumper years we are seeing.

I'm guessing that fumbleball in Australia is going into meltdown with all this great news about the NRL, and can you just imagine some of the posters on bigfooty forums must be suicidal 

[Coggo]

Fair play to the NRL for making the game a better spectacle through the six again to negate the wrestle, and other rule changes. This is the reward. 

[Anita Bath]

16 hours ago, The Future is League said:

I'm guessing that fumbleball in Australia is going into meltdown with all this great news about the NRL, and can you just imagine some of the posters on bigfooty forums must be suicidal 

Nah...they have set attendance records for regular season and play offs that NRL could only dream of.

The game is booming in every state in the country.

One in every twenty aussies is a member of an AFL team.

They are doing OK.

 

Its great that BOTH NRL and AFL have had bumper seasons...no need to put one up against the other...enough room in the sand it for two (big) kids.

[Copa]

Huge ratings!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/06/nrl-grand-final-brisbane-broncos-melbourne-storm-tv-ratings-record-eclipses-afl-first-time-decade

An average audience of 4.46 million tuned in for the Broncos’ pulsating 26-22 victory over the Storm, with 6.4 million Australians tuning in at some point in the Channel Nine broadcast. The AFL grand final nine days ago averaged 4.18 million, also with a “reach” of 6.4 million.

Edited October 6 by Copa

[Exiled Wiganer]

On 03/10/2025 at 15:05, Anita Bath said:

Nah...they have set attendance records for regular season and play offs that NRL could only dream of.

The game is booming in every state in the country.

One in every twenty aussies is a member of an AFL team.

They are doing OK.

 

Its great that BOTH NRL and AFL have had bumper seasons...no need to put one up against the other...enough room in the sand it for two (big) kids.

Theirs is an obscure cult, ours is an international sport. There is indeed room for an inbred cult in every country: it’s basically their version of cheese rolling. 

[The Rocket]

On 03/10/2025 at 21:05, Anita Bath said:

and can you just imagine some of the posters on bigfooty forums must be suicidal 

Those on the Australian forums that venture onto big footy are reporting that the fumbles fans are claiming the ratings figures must be rigged.

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Copa said:

Huge ratings!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/06/nrl-grand-final-brisbane-broncos-melbourne-storm-tv-ratings-record-eclipses-afl-first-time-decade

An average audience of 4.46 million tuned in for the Broncos’ pulsating 26-22 victory over the Storm, with 6.4 million Australians tuning in at some point in the Channel Nine broadcast. The AFL grand final nine days ago averaged 4.18 million, also with a “reach” of 6.4 million.

Biggest Grand Final viewing figures of any code in Oz ever.

[Damien]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Biggest Grand Final viewing figures of any code in Oz ever.

Thats massive. The cherry on the cake for a great NRL season.

[Damien]

 

 

[Damien]

Even the NRLW final topped a million:

 

 

[Damien]

On just about every metric the NRL is killing it:

 

 

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Thats massive. The cherry on the cake for a great NRL season.

Damien one of the pieces of news that has pleased me most this last week has been a report that one day this week the back 6 pages of Melbourne`s biggest selling paper, The Herald Sun, ran articles solely about the Melbourne Storm and the GF, there was also a picture of Harry Grant on the front page. I can remember a time distinctly when League used to get one column four pages from the back in any Melbourne newspaper. For me, that`s mind-blowing and shows I think we`ve really made it down there.

[Damien]

10 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Damien one of the pieces of news that has pleased me most this last week has been a report that one day this week the back 6 pages of Melbourne`s biggest selling paper, The Herald Sun, ran articles solely about the Melbourne Storm and the GF, there was also a picture of Harry Grant on the front page. I can remember a time distinctly when League used to get one column four pages from the back in any Melbourne newspaper. For me, that`s mind-blowing and shows I think we`ve really made it down there.

Great to hear mate. And with the Storm averaging over 20k now, taking youth development seriously and moping up RU youth players after the demise of the Rebels it all really bodes well.

[Copa]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Damien one of the pieces of news that has pleased me most this last week has been a report that one day this week the back 6 pages of Melbourne`s biggest selling paper, The Herald Sun, ran articles solely about the Melbourne Storm and the GF, there was also a picture of Harry Grant on the front page. I can remember a time distinctly when League used to get one column four pages from the back in any Melbourne newspaper. For me, that`s mind-blowing and shows I think we`ve really made it down there.

I wonder if Lachlan Murdoch’s new role as chair of News Corp has been a positive influence for coverage the newspaper.

Lachlan was at the GF in a suite with the prime minister of Australia, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea and the Premiers of NSW, QLD and Victoria amongst others.

[Coggo]

I'm always pleasantly surprised that rugby league is the most watched thing on Aussie TV, not a soap opera or Bake-Off.  

[The Future is League]

7 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Those on the Australian forums that venture onto big footy are reporting that the fumbles fans are claiming the ratings figures must be rigged.

Typican insecure fumbleball posters 

[The Future is League]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

I wonder if Lachlan Murdoch’s new role as chair of News Corp has been a positive influence for coverage the newspaper.

Lachlan was at the GF in a suite with the prime minister of Australia, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea and the Premiers of NSW, QLD and Victoria amongst others.

This will have the fumbleball fans on bigfooty in more of a tailspin than they alreday are over our game.

[eal]

A great season, epic final series, and a breathtaking final. How great it was to see a final with lots of tries and attacking play as opposed to the dour slugfests we are subjected to in Super League Grand Finals.

The last five SL Grand Final scorelines:

8-4 (2 tries)
12-10 (3 tries)
24-12 (6 tries)
10-2 (1 try)
9-2 (1 try)

[Click]

17 minutes ago, eal said:

A great season, epic final series, and a breathtaking final. How great it was to see a final with lots of tries and attacking play as opposed to the dour slugfests we are subjected to in Super League Grand Finals.

The last five SL Grand Final scorelines:

8-4 (2 tries)
12-10 (3 tries)
24-12 (6 tries)
10-2 (1 try)
9-2 (1 try)

I would prefer a game somewhere in between to be honest. 

The NRL final had some good tries, but it also had some woeful defense for what is supposed to be the 2 best teams.

I like watching good tries, but what makes a good try great is beating a good tackle, etc not some of the weak attempts seen during that game.

[Dunbar]

25 minutes ago, Click said:

I would prefer a game somewhere in between to be honest. 

The NRL final had some good tries, but it also had some woeful defense for what is supposed to be the 2 best teams.

I like watching good tries, but what makes a good try great is beating a good tackle, etc not some of the weak attempts seen during that game.

I agree with this, the two tries for Shibasaki in particular were poor defence. I mean, both are just a standard shift, no shape to the plays at all, just poor defence from Melbourne's right edge.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2025/10/06/shibasaki-with-a-dream-year/

Edited October 6 by Dunbar

[Damien]

28 minutes ago, Click said:

I would prefer a game somewhere in between to be honest. 

The NRL final had some good tries, but it also had some woeful defense for what is supposed to be the 2 best teams.

I like watching good tries, but what makes a good try great is beating a good tackle, etc not some of the weak attempts seen during that game.

Also 4 out of 5 of those Grand Finals were nip and tuck and in the air until the very end. They were tense affairs with some great defence. It's not all about tries.