The 2022 NRL Grand Final played between the Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels last night on Channel 9 and 9Now has attracted a record streaming audience for a Grand Final match with 389,000 on 9Now.

Billed as the Battle of the West, this blockbuster local derby scored a national average audience of 2.367 million viewers on Linear TV (Metro: 1.671m / Regional: 696,000) and a Live BVOD figure of 389,000 taking the TotalTV audience to 2.756 million viewers.

The 2022 NRL Grand Final, played in front of a sold out crowd for the first time since 2019, registered the highest ever live streaming audience for an AFL or NRL Grand Final in Australian TV history.  

Viewers flocked to 9Now, with the game attracting a record BVOD Live average audience of 389,000, up 7% year-on-year.

The 2022 NRLW Grand Final played between the Knights and the Eels yesterday recorded the highest ever BVOD Audience for an NRLW game, and was up +197% on the 2020 NRLW Grand Final which was the last time they played back-to-back Grand Finals with the Men’s fixture. 

On Linear TV the NRLW Grand Final was also the most watched ever, up 10% on the previous best from 2020. 

The game capped a season of record audiences on 9Now as the NRL continues to highlight Nine’s market-leading digital transformation, with Australians consuming NRL and NRLW across a multitude of Nine’s platforms from 9Now, WWOS.com.au, and various mastheads and audio assets.   

For the 2022 NRL season overall NRL audiences were up +34% YOY on 9Now while the NRLW was up +72% on the previous season played February to April 2022.

“Last night’s NRL Grand Final further highlighted the growing scale of 9Now live audiences as one of the top four highest rating programs of the year alongside all three State of Origin games,” said Hamish Turner, Nine’s Director of 9Now and Programming. “We have experienced fantastic year on year growth for 9Now this season as Nine continues to offer the biggest reach of any broadcaster in the country.”

“The Women’s game continues its impressive growth with the most watched NRLW Grand Final in history on both 9Now and Linear TV tuning in for the Knights victory over the Eels. Congratulations to the NRL, the players and the teams on a fantastic season.”

Source: Metro, OzTAM Overnight Data. See http://www.oztam.com.au/RatingsGuide.aspx for details: Regional, Regional TAM Overnight Data. See https://www.regionaltam.com.au for details. OzTAM Live VPM, NRL Grand Final, 2/10/2022 v 3/10/2021, Includes coviewing on connected TVs, 2/10/2022 Based on prelogs. OzTAM Live VPM, NRL Matches Only, 10/3/2022 – 2/10/2022 v 11/3/2021 – 3/10/2021, Includes coviewing on connected TVs, 2/10/2022 Based on prelogs. OzTAM Live VPM, NRLW Grand Final, 2/10/2022 v 25/10/2020, Includes coviewing on connected TVs, 2/10/2022 Based on prelogs. OzTAM Metro (5CM) + Regional TAM Regional (Reg Agg) data, 02/10/22 vs 25/10/20, “WOMEN’S NRL PREMIERSHIP” & “NRL GRAND FINAL DAY –WOMENS NRL” (Nine Network + Affils), Total People, AUD & TSR [FTA], overnight data based on pre logs.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022