NAB Challenge Series Breaking Attendance, Viewing Records

This year’s pre-season NAB Challenge series "attracted unprecedented national following," according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. Friday night’s Australian Football League Geelong-Collingwood first-round match "produced record attendance and television figures." The AFL confirmed that "the national average audience for the Foxtel game was 192,000." After the first eight matches this year, "there has already been four national average audiences in excess of 100,000, compared to five last year from fewer television games." The Fremantle and Richmond contest in Mandurah "was a ratings winner on Foxtel with an average national viewing audience of 125,000 -- the highest-rating pay-TV program on that day." The opening match of the AFL’s NAB Challenge series between Hawthorn and Carlton in Launceston "attracted the second-largest television audience this year, with a national average of 149,000" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/29).