CHANNEL 4 took rugby league by storm in the 2022 Super League season.
After agreeing a two-year deal with the broadcasting giants, top-flight rugby league was shown live on Channel 4 for the first time ever – and it’s safe to say it was a success.
With Channel 4 heading into its second season with rugby league, it’s only fair to look back at what the terrestrial channel achieved in 2022.
In all ten games broadcast last season, all yielded over six figures in terms of viewers, but several fixtures stood out for their incredible numbers. Now League Express can reveal all ten figures in terms of the average audience for the whole game.
Round 1
Leeds Rhinos vs Warrington Wolves
Saturday 12 February
531,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 2
Hull FC vs St Helens
Saturday 19 February
515,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 5
Warrington Wolves vs Wakefield Trinity
Saturday 19 March
198,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 10
Wigan Warriors vs Salford Red Devils
Sunday 24 April
213,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 13
Hull KR vs Catalans Dragons
Saturday 21 May
207,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 14
Castleford Tigers vs Wigan Warriors
Saturday 4 June
302,000 Channel 4 viewers
Round 22
St Helens vs Castleford Tigers
Sunday 7 August
259,000 Channel 4 viewers
Play-offs
Huddersfield Giants vs Salford Red Devils
Saturday 10 September
189,000 Channel 4 viewers
Semi-final play-off
St Helens vs Salford Red Devils
Saturday 17 September
283,000 Channel 4 viewers
From the statistics shown above, it is clear that there was an instant interest in viewing Super League games on Channel 4, with over half a million people choosing to watch the opening two games.
Though the audience figures continued to fluctuate throughout the season, being able to attract almost 300,000 viewers for the semi-final play-off between St Helens and Salford Red Devils was brilliant considering the game was also broadcast on Sky Sports.
