TLDR
England v Tonga averaged 1,034,000 viewers on Seven on Saturday night, nearly double the 537,000 who watched the Bledisloe Cup on Nine. The result more than doubled the 2017 benchmark of 505,000 for non-Australia matches.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Weekend ratings
England v Tonga reached 2,383,000 viewers on Saturday 17 October and averaged 1,034,000, the top-rating programme on Seven that night.[1] Across town on Nine, the Bledisloe Cup Game 2, the marquee winter property that rugby union has long used to anchor its free-to-air argument, averaged 537,000 from a reach of 1,378,000.[1]
The gap between the two programmes was 93 per cent in favour of rugby league. Ad buyers can use the 93 per cent gap to assess Seven's remaining Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) inventory and Nine's returns on its Bledisloe rights spend.
Seven led the streaming comparison. England v Tonga averaged 337,000 on broadcast video on demand (BVOD), against 98,000 for the Bledisloe on Nine's streaming service, a gap of more than three to one for digital buyers chasing the audience that does not sit in front of a television set.[1]
In the 2017 RLWC, no match without Australia on the field exceeded 505,000 viewers on Seven; Saturday's England v Tonga result more than doubled that ceiling.[4]
The full weekend picture
The tournament's Thursday 15 October opener, Kangaroos v Kiwis, drew a total TV reach of 3.3 million and a national average audience of 1.7 million, according to overnight VOZ (total television, combining broadcast and streaming) data from OzTAM, the industry's official ratings currency.[2]
Friday carried two separate matches. The women's fixture between Australia and Samoa reached 1,588,000 viewers, averaged 578,000 on the main channel and averaged 211,000 on BVOD.[3] The men's pool match between Samoa and France averaged 667,000.[3] Saturday also included the women's England v Wales match, which averaged 310,000.[1] The Everest and Caulfield Cup racing on Seven reached 1.5 million and averaged 295,000 on the same day.
Nine won Sunday, when its renovation programme The Block outrated Seven and handed the network its only win of the weekend.[5]
Average national TV audience, overnight (thousands)
Advertising figures
Marketers and media agencies received Saturday ratings for Seven's RLWC ad inventory and a comparison with rugby union on Nine. England v Tonga averaged 1,034,000 without Australia on the field, a useful number for Seven's sellers in a tournament where most games won't feature the Kangaroos.
On streaming the gap was 239,000 in average audience. OzTAM's VOZ measure integrates both broadcast and BVOD viewing into a single national overnight number; the free-to-air and streaming figures use the same verified currency.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
