33 goals in 10 games is a lot. Nothing to do with tv ratings but. 

2016/17
RD 1
BRI v MBV 118k SBS 2 & 129k STV
WEL v MCY 80k STV
WSW v SFC 142k STV
PER v CCM 60k STV
NEW v ADL  56 k
Total Fox 467
Total sbs 118 k
total 585 k

RD 2
AU V WSW 76k on SBS2
Fox ,
AU V WSW 104k 
 SFC  v CCM 88k
MC V MV 132k  
New V Bris 75 K
PG V Nix 58 K

Total Fox 457

Total SBS & Fox 561

All thanks to Yoshi :D

The only one that has had average TV ratings is Perth but they are on a bit later for the other states. 

This week the only real derby you'd have (and not local) is Adelaide v Victory, both teams badly need a win to kick off their campaigns. I think it'll rate well. Can see City rating well on Friday night again, might even get a decent crowd in there at AAMI.

The others you'd expect average ratings, maybe the Wanderers would do OK.

I think the ratings this week may drop but nothing significant, the overall season average will definitely still be up.

People new in advance to watch because there was going to be lots of goals?

Dont try and argue facts with anyone on this forum. These guys just believe what they want. 

bluebird - 11 Sep 2016 4:43 PM

Ai, but you say the station doesnt make a difference but you never answered this post:

So why is it that after the WIN and Southern Cross Austereo
switch on the 1 July that the exact same content is rating significantly higher on WIN than did previously on SCA? And why is it that the local news which is WIN produced is rating lower now that it has channel TEN content around it (and vice versa).

jatz, Sirocco, post as Mr Football it's easier.

I would argue, but I am perfectly happy being seen as Mr Footballs alt :P

Because its a TV show

People cant watch something if they don't know about it. A listing in a TV guide is not advertising

The derby managed to get over 60,000 and it was on Foxsports. The A League is not a TV show. It gets thousands of dollars of free advertising on all platforms every week. More people know about Cahill in this country than the ratings of any individual TV show


For all of these "how come", "what if", "why doesn't" arguments about other shows - why dance around the fact that the A League ratings did not improve when it went from SBS2 to SBS1? Why dance around the fact that the Socceroos ratings did not improve after leaving SBS?

They are the only examples relevant to the discussion

Can you please make up your mind? On one hand you say, "People can't watch something if they don't know about it. A listing in a TV guide is not advertising", yet you don't acknowledge the fact that the extra advertising and cross promotion on a commercial free to air channel during their other high rating programs will alert more viewers to an upcoming match. If cross promotion and marketing don't work, and won't deliver more viewers, then why are billions of dollars spent on these every year? I can guarantee you, that if the A-League was on channel 7, and every night during the news they had a story about an A-League issue and a promo during the ad break advertising their telecast of the Friday night game, you would get a HUGE increase in TV ratings..

Yet strangely we don't get huge increases, despite guarantees or predictions

You seem to be ignoring the fact that the A League has an incredible amount of coverage. More than any individual network can offer

Any 101 marketing book will tell you attracting a new customers is the hardest thing. The easiest thing is re-engaging with existing customers

Its foolish to think people will indiscriminately watch the A League just because channel 7 are showing more ads.
. 78% registered players ignoring the game
. Eurosnobs ignoring the game
. Match importance, forms, line up
. Fans of a specific team

All of this out the window because channel 7 have shown a few ads

And what does this extra audience, this huge increase mean? 35,000 members for MV? 80,000 for the derby? Some of this massive increase will have to translate to other areas of the game and we end up with impossible figures

Is it so hard to accept that the 175k-200k outside of one off games is actual peak interest?

No what is telling is that despite only a third of the population with access to Foxtel, they are amazingly out rating a fta station. If you think that if last Friday game was shown on the primary station on ch 7, they would have recorded only 76k then you have rocks in your head.

It's clear as daylight that production value as well as usual viewing habits plays a role. With the game being on SBS 2 you are getting a mix of people that are choosing not to watch because the production value is so low (hence why fox sports is incredibly outrating them) or you have people that aren't aware the game is on because it doesn't get the major exposure via cross promotion etc. Obviously for the really big matches, people will find the station because they are actively looking for it, just like they do for World Cup or Socceroos games, however if you don't get the build up, you won't get the hunt for finding the program. I think you underestimate the amount of casuals that will watch if they flick through and see it there, but wont actively seek it. I do it all the time with NRL and AFL. I flick through the 5 main fox sports channels but if something was on a more obscure channel I might miss it because im not actively looking for it.

This is what everyone here is arguing against you about. You have this skewed idea that all people sit down and directly make a genuine decision to not watch the a-league because they have chosen not to flick to SBS. I wouldn't have a clue what shows SBS normally has because I never bother to look there, but im sure they probably have some good programs that I may watch if I actually decided to flick all the way through the tv guide. Then you have the people that detest SBS and their football commentary and production team and decide to either go to a friends place or watch at a pub, hence why Fox ratings are better.

You just happen to dig up and reply to posts that were directed to MR VFL, weeks after the fact...

And also managed to have 35 of your first 35 posts about Aussie Rules....yeah nothing to see here. 

There are some scary people on this site an you do wonder aloud at times if they are here to abuse criticise and confuse discussions ..

Lets make three very simple points..

1] Promotion helps a lot ... does anyone think the endless pages of print media and fossil am talk back does not help the egg ballers. Of course it does as does cross promotion pre matches on FTA TV. In fact research indicates that one feeds the other so for arguments sake something on a morning breakfast show will find itself in a paper or an item in a paper will be discussed on FTA. So point one promotion helps a lot and being promoted on FTA will lift ratings.

2] FTA stations believe it or not mostly put a positive spin on their products and present them them in the best possible light. SBS have struggled with this enormously in a desire to appear to remain pure to an inner city coffee shop clique they have been unbelievably negative at times and shown down right bias when they have not gotten their own way... check Mariners coverage over the years as an example especially in Hals 2 to 6.  Just being positive and putting the best possible foot forward will help a lot. Point 2 being happy and positive helps a lot.

3] The commercial stations simply have a bigger audience .... 

Essentially if FFA can make the FTA station pay enough then they will promote the hell out of Football... 

No it wasnt a TV show, the WIN and SCTEN TV networks swapped all of their programming. The only shows that remained were the station produced programing i.e WIN News.  Everyone in these markets were aware of the channel swap and they were certainly aware months later when ratings were still being impacted.

This is a perfect example of people watching the station rather than the content and there is a surprisingly large % of the market who do this. This swap happened overnight 30th June 2016 (not seasons apart like SBS2 and socceroos examples) so it is clear that the change in ratings directly relates to the change in networks.

Just on the last media deal. Part of the deal not stated out aloud but very much implied and understood by all parties was an understanding that Fox's Australian experience  and their research of overseas was that by putting the A-League on a FTA station it would lift Fox ratings overall. The nexus is more people see and are introduced to the A-League by a FTA partner and being a new product there will be some pick up by the pay provider.

Further in Australia the ratio between FTA and pay is between 3.5 to 4.5 normally, major events like grand finals often exceed this ratio.

Being totally fair to SBS in there first year they had poor games, but from their second year they may not have had match of teh day, but they got the second best match.

Somehow and we all saw it, SBS struggled to grow the market, their often negative comments on the game and for many being overly technical, created I think a world first were the FTA station only rates on average 70% of the pay broadcaster.

This will not happen with whatever provider gets it 7's Olympic and the lead up to the Olympics was a good example of how to grow the game.

I can hardly wait to see who gets it ... 

Most of my posts are about AFL, not all, and I only discuss AFL on the main board because someone else raised it, and said something dumb.

The problem with your argument is it is logical, and people do not consistently behave logically.  `Other` sports have consistently shown there is a difference between the number of viewers you get on a big channel, as opposed to a smaller channel.  However, in defence of your argument, the difference is not huge.

There is the casual sport fan who will watch, but who does not closely follow a sport.  They do not necessarily know when it will be on, but will watch if they come across it.  So people hanging their hat on a main channel giving a big bump to the ratings will be disappointed I think, but it will rise in the short term.

Where it becomes essential to get to a main channel is in `engagement`.  While people may become hooked on a sport from just coming across and watching a game, it isn't going to happen in large numbers, because, frankly, pretty much all sports fans have seen the A-league or the socceroos already.  There is going to be no mass `oh my god, what is this sport, its fantastic` moments.

Engaging fans is to get them hooked on the drama of the sport, the personalities and stories, it needs colour, background etc.  This is what SBS is not providing. Even when it does provide a story or colour, most people do not see it.

Mainstream panel shows on the A-league, regular appearances on other programs, get people to recognise and identify with people in the A-league, then they start to think about the next game, and wonder what will happen.  This is when they take the time to find out when the game is on, and make plans to watch.  

This is what a main FTA provides that SBS does not, not an immediate lift in ratings.

The patience you talk about could have been delivered on SBS. After 2 seasons we had already seen good signs. In the first season there was a drastic drop when the summer sports started. In the second season, the drop was not as bad

There was also the opportunity to get a few quick wins on the board with bigger games (like derbies) and also marquee players

Anybody can fuck up an audience. If MV decided to field a low cost squad ala GCU then there could be a 40%-50% drop in memberships. But not fucking up doesn't see a 40%-50% increase. And equally, if new management sees the figures revert back to the way they were, it is re-engagement rather than a new audience

7, 9 or 10 can only revert us back to our peak which from 2 seasons of SBS suggests 175k-200k peak excluding finals / derbies / season opener. The rest is gradual, painful growth


The thing to remember is that football isn't an easy to pick up mass appealing casual product like the big bash. Look at the decades of hardship and it is naïve to think there is a casual audience waiting for the product t be put in front of them

78% of registered players are ignoring the A League. Eurosnobs are ignoring the A League. Ratings vary based on teams playing or match importance. How do we get a casual apathetic audience to start watching when we can't even get fans of our code to start watching?

If I was to ask you why channel 7 hasn't helped the VFL, SANFL, or WAFL - every reason you give me is exactly why the A League going to channel 7 isn't an instant win


We should have stayed on SBS and waited until we were in a position for the networks to open their wallets and come to us. Dumping a TV deal with 2 years left, no plan B, and begging the bigger networks to pick us up so we can "get big ratings" is very foolish. Our ratings didn't meet the 3.5 or 4.5 ratio we were hoping. No surprise given the core audience and football being an exclusive payTV product

A usual we are in for denial followed by specious reasoning so we can declare great cost at no increase a master stroke

 Your first 40 posts were on AFL related topics or where you could make football look bad in comparison. 

That's not the behaviour of a footbll fan on a football forum.

We had a broadcaster in 10 ready to step in, but the regulator at the last minute said their was an issue between Fox and Ten and it was stopped.

However SBS could have reacted in two ways, either spit the dummy and become worst if possible, or stand up and shout your wrong I can be a great broadcaster... SBS choose their reaction... they choose to say we are the true home of Football and F U .... 

FFA were also at fault,, but as I posted above, SBS were woefully under performing.... and what was expected of them was never even close to be delivered. 

In many ways its extremely sad, IMO they needed a chance of staff, but ego's and we know better attitude prevailed and what was a golden opportunity  was lost  .... somewhere somehow, along the way SBS forgot how to be positive and simply get on with it ...  

All true. SBS gave up on football. A sport that was supposed to be 'their game'.

They may have been hurt by some of the actions of the FFA, but they have not made anything else better for themselves or football

Most direct comparison I have made, that constituted part of a pissing contest, that I recall, was with league.  Where I have made a comparison with the A-league, it was genuinely for purposes of debate.  There is a fair bit of unreality and hyperbole around here if you haven't noticed.

And your right, if I was to list my favourite leagues to watch, A-league would be under the AFL, and cricket, but above NRL and maybe Super Rugby, on a par with the NBL.  This however doesn't invalidate my opinions on the game, or mean I have no right to post.  No deliberate trolling intended, regardless of how much some may get pissed off.

I am certainly not going to be starting any threads about the demise of the sport, or mocking teams here, which seems to be the thing to do on the AFL board.

I am not clear why just waiting on SBS, with things continuing as they are. would just lead to this.  If you are investing, and the investment is going bad, the rookie mistake is to ride it out and hope it comes good again.  Grit your teeth, take the loss, get on something better.  

But it wasn't going bad

The FFA made the same comical mistake as others by getting out a calculator, multiplying payTV figures by 3.5 and thinking SBS was a fuck up

As I said, there were signs of improvement at the tail end of their second season. Fan retention during summer codes. Add a marquee to that and one of each derby and things would have started to look better

The FFA spat the dummy and publicly announced that the figures were ordinary, they were ordinary because SBS is a little insignificant channel holding their potential back, and started tendering for one of 3 stations openly

If I am right in saying 175k - 200k outside of exceptions is our peak, and we would have gotten that on 7 / 9 / or 10, then the FFA's actions were all for nothing

Those ratings reflect our actual interest. We have a different Pay / FTA ratio because our code has been exclusively pay so more fans would have subscribed so they can actually watch the game. The figures are lower than the EPL, AFL and NRL as can be expected. Its a bitter pill for some to swallow but the best thing would have been to accept it and move on. Work with SBS, home of football, to improve things

Now we'll end up with commercials, inconsistency over which of 3 channels will actually air any game, strategically placed celebrities at the game giving interviews instead of seeing the game, and we'll still have the same peak audience. The only good thing is if you compare 175k-200k to the current ratings you see a 100% increase. Just like comparing season 7 to season 6 vindicates the October kick off

Can't wait for you to be wrong blueballs. If so do you promise to stfu? I love how you think you have moe expertise in this space than those actually involved in the negotiations. Always amazed at some peoples delusional perspective of themselves.

Funny how those who said we'd see a significant increase moving from SBS2 to SBS1 didn't STFU

Either I'm wrong or we're both wrong

You're not fooling anyone. Your increase in posting since your Mr Football account got banned makes it pretty obvious.

@FFACup @SydneyFC v Canberra Olympic FOX SPORTS 4 46,000