Next week’s finals fixtures:
1st preliminary final: Melbourne Storm v Canberra Raiders, Friday 7.50pm AEDT at Suncorp Stadium
2nd preliminary final: Penrith Panthers v South Sydney Rabbitohs, Saturday 7.50pm AEDT at ANZ Stadium
Nine’s telecast starts at 7pm AEDT. It has already said the Storm-Raiders game will be shown on main channel in Victoria.
Nine’s NRL Grand Final Day coverage will start at 12pm AEDST next Sunday 25 October.
I got a bit of chuckle at how useless these papers looked on the outside host commentary desk with all the rain around… looks like great big blue blobs of ink on them… you’d think they’d have some plastic sleeves to put them in.
How ironic…
Straight after the NRL finished tonight, the start of the following movie on Nine had the “Theme from Shaft”, which was the theme music that ATN-7 used for their “Sevens Big League” rugby league coverage in the early 1980s. This brought back memories for me of staying up late on Sunday nights to watch some of those games on NBN-3.
Next Sunday, there will only be two Grand Finals played - the NRL and the NRLW.
Previous Grand Final Days have included 3 grand finals - the State Cup Final (aka Reserve Grade) between the NSW and Qld run competitions, and also the under 21’s Final.
Will be interesting to see what Nine airs before the NRLW final? The Sumday Footy Show to start at a later time perhaps?
Thats a shame only the 2 Grand Finals…
The Sporting Bubble documentary announced to air on 25 October as well.
Line up AEDT - updated
10:00 am The Greatest: NRL Grand Finals
Wide World of Sports presents The Greatest NRL Grand Finals of all time. Host James Bracey is joined by Brad Fittler, Andrew John’s & Phil Gould.
12:00 pm Sports Sunday
01:00pm Sunday Footy Show
Join hosts Peter Sterling, Erin Molan and Brad Fittler, with regular special guests to discuss all things NRL.
03:00 pm Grand Final Preview
Wide World of Sports presents the NRL Women’s Premiership Grand Final, live from ANZ Stadium, Sydney. Join our expert commentary team for all the action. Kick off at 4:05PM AEDT.
04:00 pm NRL Women’s Premiership Grand Final
Wide World of Sports presents the NRL Women’s Premiership Grand Final, live from ANZ Stadium, Sydney. Join our expert commentary team for all the action. Kick off at 4:05PM AEDT.
05:30 pm NRL Women’s Premiership Grand Final - Post Match
06:00 pm Nine News Sunday
06:30 pm NRL Pre-Match Entertainment
Wide World Of Sports presents the NRL Grand Final Pre-Match entertainment. We also take a look back at some of the highlights from the 2020 season, retiring players and the last word before kick off to the 2020 Grand Final.
07:30 pm NRL Grand Final
After 20 rounds and 3 weeks of finals it comes down to this, the NRL Grand Final, live from ANZ Stadium, Sydney. Join our commentary team for all the action. Kick off at 7:30PM AEDT.
09:30 pm NRL Grand Final Post-Match
10:30 pm The Sporting Bubble
Queensland - one hour earlier, Vic and SA have afternoon coverage on 9 Gem and start with news at 6pm. Perth starts at 3:30pm with news at 7pm.
am
While Seven can boast about the ratings increase for this year’s AFL finals, the same can’t be said about Nine’s NRL finals coverage. I had compared the ratings for the first three weeks of NRL finals in 2019 and 2020, and found that this year’s ratings were around 10% lower than last year based on five-city totals. The Sydney and Brisbane audiences were also well down (the absence of a Queensland-based team from this year’s finals does hurt).
THis year’s NRL GF does make a difference in ratings. With A Victorian side playing in the Grand final, this will stack up Melbournes ratings. Despite Victoria being an AFL State, I think The melbourne market will outrate Brisbane Market by a small margin. I think Next weeks GF will be around 1.98m. A lot of people will be watching in pubs and other clubs, while some are heading into streaming.
The last time a NRL Grand Final received over 1 million viewers in Sydney (at least as far as overnight ratings were concerned) was in 2016 for the first ever Cronulla Sharks premiership. But of course, this was before Nine had the rights to stream games on 9Now.
Are the Panthers one of those Western Sydney teams which have the pulling power to get this market’s ratings into seven figures next Sunday night? Or are the days of even the blockbuster rugby league matches receiving 1 million+ viewers in Sydney over? 
Kayo Sports was introduced this year, which plays a role why the ratings are down too. More people are streaming now than ever before.
The games weren’t streamed on Kayo?
2018 actually
Fox League airs the first 3 weeks of the finals live so hence Kayo also shows those games
9 and 9Now have exclusive live rights to the NRL Grand Final and State of Origin. Fox League (and subsequently Kayo) show the game delayed at full time.
Yes correct, but we are talking about the finals including semi-finals
In which case the stupid simulcast deal applies.
