The AFL has won the battle of the codes according to the preliminary overnight figures from OzTam, with its grand final clash between the West Coast and Hawthorn drawing a five city metro audience of 2.63 million.
The AFL game kicked off on Saturday afternoon on Seven Network with the clash taking the top four free-to-air slots of the night. More than two million people watching the presentations and the on the ground coverage with the audience dipping to 1.5 million during the post match program.
The following night was the NRL grand final between The Cowboys and The Brisbane Broncos with the game drawing an audience of 2.31m.
The game saw Channel Nine take out the top four slots of the night, with the top three being related to the game and the fourth was Nine News.
According to Channel Nine the audience for the NRL peaked at 4.227m, which is a five city metro audience of 2.688m and a regional audience of 1.539m.
On both game nights Seven and Nine won the night according to share with Seven commanding 32.9% of the share on the Saturday and on the Sunday, Nine drew 45.2%.
The Rugby World Cup also drew a solid audience for Fox Sports, despite the 6am time slot, with 225,000 people tuning in to watch Australia defeat England early Sunday morning. The game also aired on Gem with 173,000 tuning in.
The hot sporting games meant big business for advertisers and TV networks, with ads airing during the AFL grand final costing around $125,000 for a 30 second spot, and in the NRL it is understood ads cost $129k per 30 second spot.
See the numbers below for yourself:
Sunday ratings:
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