2021, here we go again?
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Big brands, big season: Sevenâs AFL in 2026
Seven reveals partners and sponsors for Australiaâs #1 winter sport
Hot on the heels of the highest-rating AFL Grand Final since 2005 and record-breaking streaming audiences on 7plus Sport, the Seven Network today revealed its partners and sponsors for the 2026 AFL Premiership Season.
Toyota, McDonaldâs, AAMI and Harvey Norman return as broadcast partners of Australiaâs #1 winter sport.
The 2026 broadcast sponsors include leading brands Coles, Telstra, Sportsbet, Bunnings, Chemist Warehouse, Industry Super Funds, Hostplus, CBUS, NAB, Asahi Beverages, BWS, Colgate-Palmolive and Uber Eats.
Other brands that have signed on with major AFL packages or as ancillary program sponsors include SEEK, OMO Ultimate, Disney, Bupa, Gulf Western Oil, Jim Beam, Betr, Equip Super and view.com.au.
The Front Bar will be back in 2026 with premier partner Lion, plus program sponsors Youi, BWS, Hyundai and Sportsbet.
Building on the landmark launch of live and free AFL streaming in 2025, 7plus Sport will again give every Australian access to every round of the footy this season â live, free and on any device, from anywhere in the country.
Last year, Sevenâs AFL coverage reached 17.6 million Australians, including 4.56 million on 7plus Sport. Sevenâs AFL reached five million viewers each week of the 2025 regular season across Seven and 7plus Sport, an increase of 7% year-on-year.
The 2025 AFL Grand Final was the highest-rating Grand Final in two decades, averaging 4.18 million total TV viewers and reaching 6.2 million. The 7plus Sport audience for the Grand Final was 985,000, up 51% on the previous year. The 2025 Charles Brownlow Medal averaged 1.45 million national total TV viewers, up 14% on the previous year and the biggest Brownlow audience since 2015, with more than 335,000 people tuning in on 7plus Sport, up 72% year-on-year.
Sevenâs National Television Sales Director, Katie Finney, said: âThe numbers from 2025 were remarkable â 17.6 million Australians reached, five million viewers every week, and streaming audiences growing strongly. That momentum carries into 2026, creating an extraordinary proposition for brands.
âThrough a single conversation with Seven, brands can access inventory across Sevenâs broadcast channels, 7plus Sport and Fox Footy simulcast matches on Kayo â reaching a complementary audience across every platform and maximising their reach. And Seven remains the only place brands can access the most unmissable ad break in marketing: the solus 30-second spot after a goal is kicked.
âSevenâs record-breaking summer of cricket â with the highest-rated Ashes Test series ever on Seven and the biggest Big Bash League audience in six years â means we arrive at AFL 2026 with extraordinary momentum across our 52-week sports line up. Live sport has never been more valuable for Australians or for brands,â she said.
Sevenâs National Sport Sales Director, Rob Maclean, said: âSevenâs AFL is the most unique marketing offering in sport in the country. The biggest games of the round, every week â Thursday nights, Friday nights, Sunday afternoons and marquee matches â plus seven days of footy fan engagement through our suite of ancillary programs. That consistent, appointment-viewing scale is what brands need.
âWhat makes Sevenâs AFL so powerful for advertisers is the true incremental reach brands can achieve via the right combination of inventory across multiple platforms. Eighty per cent of our weekly 7plus Sport AFL audience is unique to the streaming platform, people that brands simply cannot reach on broadcast alone. Among 16 to 39s, that figure rises above 90%. These are new fans and lighter viewers being brought into the ecosystem as our streaming audience grows, and the numbers prove it: 7plus Sport streaming for AFL Origin in February this year was up 227% on the 2025 season average.
âOur strategy of creating new ancillary content delivered a 25% incremental weekly reach on top of live match coverage in 2025, with one million of our five million weekly viewers unique to the ancillary programs. The Front Bar, The Agenda Setters, Unfiltered, Extra Time and Sunday Footy Feast have become appointment viewing in their own right, and they create powerful new integrated opportunities for our commercial partners,â he said.
Sevenâs Director of Sport, Chris Jones, said: âThe 2026 AFL season is set to be another landmark year for Seven and 7plus Sport. The growth weâve seen in our streaming audiences tells us that new fans and lighter fans are being unlocked, and that is driving scale for our commercial partners.â
Sevenâs AFL coverage in 2026 includes matches on Thursday nights, Friday nights, State Footy Saturdays, Sunday afternoons and more Sunday night games than ever before.
Seven will also show marquee games and every match in the AFL Finals Series including â exclusive to Seven and 7plus Sport â the Charles Brownlow Medal and the 2026 AFL Grand Final. Seven will also broadcast the introduction of the first ever Wildcard Round as part of the AFL Finals Series.
Fans in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia can watch every game involving teams from their home states on Seven and 7plus Sport. State league football will return in 2026, with SANFL and WAFL matches live on Saturdays throughout the season on Seven and 7plus Sport.
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AFL commentating legend Dennis Cometti has died, aged 76.
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Wasnât 7 planning on doing a documentary around Dennis?
Hopefully itâs very good and does well to honour how amazing he was with commentary. I think he was truly the 
of AFL commentary
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Hopefully there will be a tribute to Dennis on The Front Barâs season premiere tonight, or before Sydney v Carlton tomorrow night.
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They will definitely do it with the Front Bar & also with Thursday Night since itâs the first game
Maybe they have Bruce to host the game as he did with marquee matches last season and maybe during the pre game or half time have something about Dennis
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The very best to ever do it. Sad day
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Seven need to erect a centimetre perfect gold statue of Dennis in Perth.
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What a sad loss. He was the best commentator to call the game. Did a stint on Nine when Nine had the rights from 2002-06 before moving back to Seven from 2007 until his retirement in 2016
His last call was: âTom Boyd snaps, Tom Boyd goes long. How will it bounce? The stadium holds its breathâŚitâs a goal! And the Western Suburbs eruptâ describing Tom Boydâs goal in the 2016 AFL Grand Final which led to the Dogs breaking its premiership drought
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The Den award for the best commentator each season
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Ahh man. As a Perth boi growing up in the best of Dennis times, im so sad by this 
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hopefully a commentator busts out a âcentimetre perfectâ on Thursday night
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7afl hasnât posted anything about it yet. Fox, 9 & AFL all have posted about Dennis on socials. Iâm assuming 7 will post it with a tribute instead of just a normal post
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Seven statement.
The Seven Network is deeply saddened by the passing of long-time Seven Network sport broadcaster, Dennis Cometti AM, who passed away at 76 years of age.
Dennis spent 26 years at the Seven Network from 1986 to 2001, and again from 2007 until his final match on Seven, the 2016 AFL Grand Final on 1 October 2016.
Starting his media career as a radio announcer in Perth in 1968, while also juggling a playing career with West Perth in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL), Dennis then went on to work for the ABC between 1972 and 1985 and the Nine Network between 2002-2006, before returning home to Seven in 2007.
Separate to his AFL achievements, Dennis also covered three Summer Olympics for Seven including Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, where Australians heard a raft of iconic moments which included Gold Medal heroics from Susie OâNeill, Kieran Perkins and Ian Thorpe.
Although they had shared the microphone before, it was between 2007 and 2016 that Dennis and his dear friend, Bruce McAvaney truly hit their stride. Across near 450 matches, their chemistry and big-moment calls defined a golden run and secured their place among world sportâs most revered commentary partnerships.
Seven Network sport commentator, Bruce McAvaney said: âWhen I think about Dennis, one of the first things I think about is the amount of joy he brought to all of our lives.â
âHow many times did he make us laugh and smile? We would sit there and think, how did he think of that? He leaves a legacy that is undeniable, unique, and authentic. In many ways he was the benchmark for all of those that are following in his footsteps. We are a nation who prides itself in having so many of the all-time great sport commentators, and he was up there with the very best of them.
âPerhaps the most impressive thing about Dennis is that through his calling, he made footballers famous. Thatâs a gift,â he said.
âOn a personal level, I feel like Iâve lost something truly precious. We shared an extraordinary journey. We were a similar age and at similar stages of our lives, and we both understood the pressure that came with the role â the effort it demanded and the vulnerability that came with trying to live up to expectations. We leaned on each other through that. We always had each otherâs backs.
âWhile Dennis and I started our careers as colleagues, we ended as friends and I am so grateful for that.â
Seven Network Head of AFL and Sport Innovation, Gary OâKeeffe said: âWhile Den will forever be remembered for his iconic one-liners, he was by any measure a world-class caller who has entertained sport fans â especially footy fans â across the whole nation and all over the world.
âMore importantly, off-camera, Dennis was a world-class person. Everyone who had the opportunity to meet and work alongside him, walked away from the experience a better person. His impact will be felt far and wide across the industry. We are so lucky to have known him.
âWhen we think back to some of the greatest moments in footy folklore, Dennis has more than likely provided the soundtrack. Itâs hard to imagine anyone else in world sport who could so brilliantly and so succinctly capture the moment.
âWe will forever remember when Peter Wilson bobbed up like a cork in the ocean, and Heath Shaw snuck up behind Nick Riewoldt like a librarian. Perhaps none more iconic than when the western suburbs erupted over Tom Boydâs goal in the 2016 Grand Final â the last AFL goal Dennis called on television.
âOn behalf of everyone at the Seven Network and particularly our sport department who have worked so closely with Den over his incredible career, we send our thoughts to his wife Velia, and children, Ricki and Mark at this incredibly difficult time.
Voted the Television Caller of the Year by the Australian Football Media Association (AFMA) a record 11 times, in 2006 he also won the Alf Potter Award for that seasonâs most outstanding media personality and the sports category at the West Australian of the Year awards in 2017. In 2018 he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in sports journalism at the 17th annual Sport Australia Media Awards.
Dennis Cometti is a member of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Australian Football Media Association Halls of Fame. In 2019 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the broadcast media as a sports presenter, and to the community.
Seven will acknowledge the incredible career of Dennis Cometti at tomorrow nightâs Opening Round match between the Sydney Swans and Carlton at the SCG.
As announced earlier this year, Seven will broadcast a documentary into the life and career of Dennis Cometti later this year, aptly titled Centimetre Perfect led by his great mate and Seven broadcaster, Bruce McAvaney.
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As a Perth boy too and having grown up with Dennis, this hit me hard
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Took this photo of Dennis in his final call for @7AFL sitting alongside Bruce.
â Jude Bolton (@Jude_Bolton) March 4, 2026
Final quarter of the 2016 AFL Grand Final. pic.twitter.com/qBnGLLlbfs
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Bruce McAvaneyâs tribute to Dennis Cometti
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Is that a new part of the deal, or is it something that started last year and weâre only just now finding out about it?
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Yes.
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