Good to hear that the GWS - N Melb game will be shown on Seven in Sydney.
And good to have the footy back in general.
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What they should have is an app where viewers press a button for different sounds which will then come across on the broadcast.
You can have:
Clapping
Cheering
Screaming
Booing
Ball
That way fans can still feel involved
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Yeah because that’s going to work.
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Overlooked somewhat given all the other new elements to the broadcast, and the return of footy in general, but Seven only went with one expert commentator tonight (Wayne Carey) alongside Bruce/ BT and Daisy on the boundary.
Prior to COVID and the associated changes to the AFL season it was planned for Jobe Watson to feature on Thursday Night Football alongside Richo, with Wayne Carey and Luke Hodge on Friday nights.
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It’s a fun idea, but the problem is when people are watching from home, a few seconds have already passed since the event took place.
So you’d have a goal scored and then 6 or so seconds later people respond, and then add the time to process the reaction… you’d have cheering happening randomly.
We’d have to master the time-space continuum first.
Footy roars back on Seven with biggest Thursday Night ever
Largest prime-time home and away audience for 10 years
A record number of fans flocked to Seven last night to celebrate the AFL’s return, with the Collingwood-Richmond blockbuster drawing the biggest ever LIVE and FREE audience for Thursday Night Football.
As the Magpies and Tigers restarted the 2020 season with a thrilling draw, an average audience of 1.275 million tuned in nationally to Seven.
It was the biggest prime-time audience for a home and away game for 10 years and topped the last seven Anzac Day blockbusters between Collingwood and Essendon.
Seven’s average metro audience of 1.02 million was more than 150 cent up on the NRL’s free-to-air metro audience of 394,000. And more people watched Seven’s AFL broadcast in Melbourne alone (668,000) than the NRL’s free-to-air coverage across the whole of Australia (619,000).
Managing Director Seven Melbourne and Head of Network Sport Lewis Martin commented:
“Last night just underlines how much Aussies love their footy and how glad we all are to finally have it back. We’ve worked tirelessly for the past three months on some exciting technical innovations and on-air initiatives to further enhance our broadcast for fans at home. But the footy will always be at the core of everything we do and we can’t wait to bring fans what shapes as a compelling season.”
Seven’s metro audience last night was also 25 per cent up on 2020’s round one season-opener between Richmond and Carlton, 58 per cent up on Richmond and Collingwood’s 2019 round two clash and a whopping 70 per cent up on last season’s Thursday Night Football average audience.
Melbourne’s average audience was 23 per cent up on 2020’s season opener, 58 per cent up on Richmond-Collingwood 2019 round two, and 93 per cent up on last season’s Thursday Night Football average.
Fans in Sydney and Brisbane also warmly welcomed the footy back on Seven, with Sydney’s average audience of 52,000 representing a 105 per cent increase on round two last year, while Brisbane’s audience of 41,000 was 77 per cent up on last year.
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Jobe Watson will provide expert comments tonight for the Geelong-Hawthorn match. Brian Taylor and Hamish McLachlan are calling the action. Jimmy Bartel is field commentator.
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That’s some stat
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Are the overseas broadcasts taking Sevens coverage or Foxtels?
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WatchAFL takes the Fox Footy feed, but for BT Sport in the UK/Fox Sports in the US/etc. take the match feed (no prematch/postmatch, (not sure about FS, but I know that BT Sport have a continuity anouncer give a brief intro before the first bounce) they can opt out of the halftime break in favour of ads/other programming) of the ‘host’ broadcaster, almost the same as 7 does for outside Victoria games that they don’t produce (eg Crows, Power, etc).
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ABC Australia (which broadcasts into Asia-Pacific region) takes the match feed. It starts at the same time as match broadcast on Seven / Fox Footy, e.g. for last night’s Geelong-Hawthorn match, it would begin at 7.30pm AEST like Seven. ABC Australia takes the half time break but the broadcast finishes just after the final siren.
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But what local commentary are they taking? Also does the international feeds have the fake crowd noises ets?
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Yes.
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I thought the advertising and banners on the seats looked better last night. Might have been the straighter wings at Kardinia Park as opposed to the curved MCG.
If it’s a Seven-produced game, they’ll take Seven’s commentary (and vice versa if its a Fox game)
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Does anyone have the intro? 3 games and every time I’ve missed the intro by seconds…
So, Sunday Soapbox has also been canned.
Yet the AFL still gives them an extension when they don’t care about footy
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It’s temporary and seven would love to have these programs on air, But as previously stated they are trying to reduce costs. I think the AFL deal goes a lot further than a Sunday morning program.
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