(Image: AAP/Darren England)

AFL clearly won round two of the battle of the boot at the weekend. It had more viewers nationally and in metro markets on Seven than the NRL, while the NRL beat the AFL in the regions on Nine and on Foxtel.

The Saturday night finals out-rated the night before on Seven and Fox Sports.

The margins between the AFL on Seven and the NRL on Nine were large — 262,000 for the Friday night and 290,000 for the Saturday night.

On Friday night Richmond’s win over St Kilda averaged 1.04 million nationally on Seven (802,000 metro/242,000 in the regions) against 781,000 for Easts losing to Canberra Raiders (489,000 in the metros and 292,000 in the regions).  

The AFL game was watched by 267,000 on Fox Sports while the NRL game had 302,000 viewers — so victory to rugby league.

Saturday night saw Geelong shellack the Wobbles with 1.13 million tuning in to watch the cutaway shots of unhappy Wobbles boss Eddie McGuire: 865,000 watched in the metros and 262,000 in the regions.

The NRL final saw Souths beat Parramatta with 836,000 watching — 512,000 in the metros and 323,000 in the regions. The AFL game had 286,000 viewers on Fox Sports, the NRL final was watched by 331,000 people.

The first rugby test between the Wallabies and the All Blacks from Wellington averaged 339,000 on Ten and 218,000 on Fox Sports which was OK for a minor sport these days. Will the audience pick up after the Wannabees good effort against the Kiwis? The draw will see the Kiwis more interested in the test next Sunday than in the NZ election result the day before.

Sunday night Nine won from Seven, Ten and the ABC. The Block room reveal topped the night with 1.47 million and the lead up, 1.35 million. End of night.

In regional markets Seven News, 447,000; The Block — Winner 380,000; The Block, 355,000; 7News Cruising — The Biggest Storm, 348,000; 7pm ABC News, 339,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.9%)
  2. Seven (26.0%)
  3. Ten (18.4%)
  4. ABC (16.4%)
  5. SBS (7.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.7%)
  2. Seven (19.3%)
  3. Ten (12.2%)
  4. ABC (12.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (3.7%)
  2. 10 Bold (3.5%)
  3. 7mate (2.8%)
  4. 7TWO (2.6%)
  5. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block Room Winner (Nine) — 1.47 million
  2. Seven News — 1.38 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.346 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.19 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.025 million
  6. 7News Cruising — The Biggest Storm — 1.01 million
  7. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 920,000
  8. Restoration Australia (ABC) — 713,000
  9. Junior MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 703,000
  10. Grantchester (Seven) — 669,000

Top metro program:

  1. The Block — Room Winner (Nine) — 1.09 million

Losers: Not bad night — Rugby great result for the Wannabies.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 930,000
  2. Nine News — 913,000
  3. 7pm ABC News – 686,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 667,000
  5. 7News — Cruising — The Biggest Storm — 658,000
  6. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 372,000
  7. Nine Late News — 268,000
  8. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 266,000
  9. Ten News First — 242,000
  10. SBS World News — 143,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News ) — 520,000
  2. Landline (ABC) — 433,000
  3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 375,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) – 316,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 254,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 199,000

Top five pay TV programs: 

  1.  Rugby Union: NZ v Australia (Fox Sports) — 218,00
  2.  Rugby Union: Post Game (Fox Sports) — 120,000
  3. FT: Germany race (Fox Sports) — 118,000
  4.  Rugby Union: Pre-Game (Fox Sports) — 289,000
  5. Outsiders (Sky News) — 75,000