Aussie music acts reach 2.626m viewers at NRL and AFL grand finals

Australian music reached a total of 2.626 million overnight metro viewers at the NRL and AFL grand finals on the weekend.

Amy Shark did the honours for the NRL duel between the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

Her performance, which included bringing on Andrew Farriss and Kirk Pengilly for INXS’s ‘Never Tear Us Apart’, drew 1.145 million for Nine while the match had 2.1 million metros.

Seven’s AFL entertainment dew 1.481 million overnight metros—up 92.3%, said the network.
The game drew 2.98 overnight metros.

On 7plus, the game recorded nearly 16 million streaming minutes and was up a remarkable 215% year on year. However, there was no breakdown of streaming figures for the entertainment.

The acts at the Gabba were Sheppard, DMA’s, Cub Sport, Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale and Electric Fields featuring Thelma Plum and Busby Marou.

The entertainment choices for both codes were worthy enough.

Shark herself said she was “a little shocked they went with a female pop artist”, adding that she believes it was “a really great move for the NRL”.

The AFL’s choice covered rock and indie, brought First Nations names to a huge audience, and skewed to Queensland acts.

But the response on social media was that the entertainment should have been there to pump up the crowd, and there were too many slow movements.

Among comments for some of the AFL acts were “I know it’s in Brisbane but it’s not a funeral, guys”, “tone-deaf funeral!” and “Seriously, could they get any more energy SAPPING performers and songs?”