RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL – AUSTRALIA

NRL Grand Finalists the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm are the most widely supported NRL clubs in 2025

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Oct-25

The latest data from Roy Morgan shows that the Brisbane Broncos are Australia’s most widely supported NRL club for a second straight year, with 1,271,000 supporters. In a clear second place are the Broncos’ 2025 Grand Final opponent, the Melbourne Storm with 1,149,000 supporters, an increase of 31,000 (+2.8%) on a year ago. The most widely supported Sydney-based club is the Sydney Roosters with 502,000 supporters, following an increase of 28,000 (+5.9%) on a year ago. Amongst the Sydney-based NRL clubs in second place is the Parramatta Eels with 433,000 supporters, ahead of the South Sydney Rabbitohs with 403,000 supporters. Meanwhile, 6.3 million Australians (27.7% of Australians aged 14+) now watch the NRL on TV, up 392,000 (+6.6%) on four years ago.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, SYDNEY ROOSTERS RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL, PARRAMATTA EELS, SOUTH SYDNEY RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB

A numbers game: how NRL can claim it’s the most watched sport

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Oct-24

Data from OzTAM shows that the NRL Grand Final on Sunday attracted a national television audience of 3.4 million. The AFL Grand Final a week earlier was watched by 4.06 million people. However, the NRL’s premiership showdown was viewed by 762,000 people via the Nine Network’s free 9Now streaming platform, compared with a streaming audience of 654,000 for the AFL season decider via the rival 7plus app. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo contends that rugby league has a larger TV audience than any other sports code in Australia. The NRL will soon begin to negotiate a new broadcasting rights deal beyond 2027.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, 9NOW, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, 7PLUS, OZTAM PTY LTD

Brisbane Broncos overtake the Melbourne Storm to be the most widely supported NRL club in 2024 with 1.3 million supporters

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Oct-24

The latest data from Roy Morgan shows that the total NRL supporter base has grown to over 7.4 million Australians (33.1%), up 2.4% from a year ago. Looking over a longer time-period the increase is even more impressive, up by over 2.1 million (+39.7%) compared to four years ago in 2020. The Brisbane Broncos are now the most widely supported NRL club with 1,302,000 supporters in 2024, an increase of 152,000 (+13.2%) on a year ago. This boost for the Broncos comes after the club played off in last year’s NRL Grand Final and had their most successful home and away season for over two decades. In second place and losing top spot (which the club has held for the past four years), is the Melbourne Storm with 1,118,000 supporters. The Storm are set to play off in another NRL Grand Final this weekend against the Penrith Panthers. Meanwhile, 7.1 million Australians (31.8%) now watch the NRL on TV, up 318,000 (+4.7%) on a year ago and up over 1.3 million (+23%) on four years ago. These key findings are derived from detailed in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year as part of the Roy Morgan Single Source survey.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, PENRITH PANTHERS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB

Melbourne Storm is again the most widely supported club in the NRL in 2023 while Parramatta is on top in Sydney

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 27-Sep-23

The Melbourne Storm has topped the annual Roy Morgan NRL supporter ladder for a third year in a row, with 1,197,000 supporters in 2023, an increase of 34,000 (+2.9%) on a year ago. The Brisbane Broncos are in second place with 1,150,000 supporters, up 94,000 (+8.9%) in a year. Support for NRL clubs has grown significantly compared to the pre-pandemic period despite the upheavals of the last three years, and 14 of the 16 continuing clubs have increased their support compared to 2022. New club the Dolphins played their first NRL game in March 2023 and already have attracted the support of 232,000 Australians, to be the third most popular Queensland club. Meanwhile, 7.2 million Australians (33.5%) now support an NRL team, up 11.7% on a year ago. In addition, some 6.8 million Australians (31.4%) now watch the NRL on TV, up 674,000 (+11%) on a year ago.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, DOLPHINS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB

Low TV crowd for all-Sydney decider

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Original article by Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 4-Oct-22

Ratings data from OzTAM shows that the National Rugby League grand final boasted a total audience of just 2.76 million viewers. This compares with 3.2 million in 2020 and 3.6 million in 2021, with COVID-19 restrictions boosting the audience in both years. The Nine Network’s coverage of the 2022 premiership decider had an average audience of 1.67 million metropolitan viewers, plus 696,000 viewers in regional areas; an additional 389,000 people watched the grand final on the 9Now app.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Delaying the NRL grand final is an option

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Original article by Dean Ritchie, Jeremy Ritchie
The Australian – Page: 23 : 1-Oct-21

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys says the NRL Grand Final due to be played on 3 October could be postponed if Queensland’s COVID-19 crisis worsens and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk bans crowds from attending the game at Suncorp Stadium. Stating that the game must be played in front of a crowd, he says the NRL’s preferred option would be to switch the game to Townsville. Any decision to switch the game to Townsville will have to be made by late on 1 October to give officials enough time to make all the arrangements, but Townsville has also been impacted by COVID-19.

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AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Melbourne Storm are the most widely supported NRL (or AFL) club in 2021 ahead of the Brisbane Broncos and Parramatta Eels

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Sep-21

The latest data from Roy Morgan shows that the total NRL supporter base has grown by over 1 million from a year ago, up 19% to more than 6.3 million Australians aged 14+ (29.9%) in 2021 despite the sport dealing with two COVID-interrupted seasons throughout 2020-21. The NRL was forced to relocate all 16 clubs to Queensland in July this year after outbreaks of COVID-19 in the key market of New South Wales as well as in Victoria and the ACT; despite these upheavals support for the clubs has boomed, with 11 of the 16 clubs experiencing an increase in support from 2020. The Melbourne Storm have topped the ladder as the most widely supported NRL club in 2021 with 1,211,000 supporters, an increase of 28.7% on a year ago following the club’s fourth Premiership in 2020. In second is the Brisbane Broncos, the only other club with over 1 million supporters on 1,028,000, an increase of 15% on a year ago despite the club’s first Wooden Spoon in 2020 since joining the competition in 1988. These key findings are derived from detailed in-depth interview with over 50,000 Australians each year as part of the Roy Morgan Single Source survey.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED

NRL could switch TV channels

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Original article by John Stensholt, Jessica Halloran
The Australian – Page: 24 : 25-Aug-21

The Seven Network is said to have expressed interest in the broadcasting rights to rugby league’s State of Origin series. Seven is also believed to be interested in broadcasting one National Rugby League match each week; Ten could also potentially bid for the NRL rights, with the Nine Network’s current deal set to end in 2022. Nine has held the rugby league broadcasting rights for about three decades.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

AFL wins TV war with NRL

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Original article by Scott Gullan
Herald Sun – Page: 59 : 27-Oct-20

Ratings data from OzTAM shows that the 2020 AFL grand final attracted 3.812 million viewers nationwide, which is the largest audience for an AFL match in four years. The Seven Network boasted an audience share of 65.8% for its coverage of the premiership decider. The AFL is likely to come under growing pressure to move the grand final to a prime-time slot permanently due to the strong ratings. Meanwhile, the Nine Network’s coverage of the NRL grand final was watched by 2.967 million viewers, compared with 2.65 million in 2019.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, OZTAM PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

$1bn NRL broadcast deal kicks off

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 29-May-20

The National Rugby League has negotiated a revised broadcasting rights deal with Fox Sports and Nine Entertainment for the 2020 season. The two broadcasters are believed to have been granted a 30 per cent discount for the remainder of their existing rights deals, which expire at the end of the 2022 season. Fox Sports has also agreed to extend its NRL rights deal for a further eight years. The NRL season resumed on 28 May, after a two-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED