AFL 'Delighted' With Grand Final Ratings And Attendance

Saturday's Australian Football League grand final TV ratings were the "highest since West Coast's win over Sydney" in '06 according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. The national audience of 4.05 million "pushed the four-week finals series to a record" of almost 18.1 million viewers. The match was the highest-rating TV program in Melbourne for '12 and rated well in Sydney, "where it had an average audience of 610,000." AFL COO Gillon McLachlan described the Sydney figures as "a huge number" that equated to a prime-time rating. McLachlan said, "Our ratings and attendance figures for the finals series have been spectacular, up 20% in each category from last year." The grand final brought in 2.95 million metropolitan viewers nationally and a "regional audience of 1.1 million." It was the "third most watched" metropolitan TV program for the year (THE AUSTRALIAN, 10/1).