Super Netball reports viewing increase

With the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season completed last weekend, the league has released key broadcast metrics, showing an increase across the board in viewership numbers.

The competition’s Grand Final on Sunday saw 930,000 people tune in to Nine’s free-to-air broadcast, making it the highest rated match of the 2020 season with viewership up for all demographics compared to the 2019 edition.

The average audience of the Grand Final on the Netball Live Official App was also up by 30% compared to last year, with digital proving to be key as streaming of the match on 9now was also up 37%.

Over the course of the season, the digital increases were key again, as the Netball Live Official App recorded an average audience increase of 30% and Telstra TV of 10%, with almost 34 million minutes in total streamed across both the app and Telstra TV.

Over five million people watched Super Netball broadcasts on Nine, with average viewing time up 16.18% from the 2019 season.

Welcoming the support of netball fans despite the changes to the season due to COVID-19,

Suncorp Super Netball Chief Executive, Chris Symington advised “while only limited fans were able to physically attend matches in Queensland and Adelaide this season due to COVID-19 restrictions, our fantastic broadcast partners Nine and Telstra still managed to elevate their match coverage to another level to ensure fans around Australia and the world didn’t miss a minute of the action.

“This season was unique with matches broadcast mid-week to allow for the condensed season timeframe, but fans continued to tune in and we couldn’t be happier with the continued growth we have seen across the board this year."

Nine Head of Netball, Keeley Devery, said the fourth season of Suncorp Super Netball has proved once again it is the world’s premier netball competition, noting “it has been a mammoth effort from all sides to pull off an exceptional season despite the challenges posed by COVID-19.

“Each week, audiences were treated to world-class netball action as the best of the best battled it out on the courts, culminating in a nail biting Grand Final where the Melbourne Vixens, who against all odds, managed to bring the title home for Victoria.”

Advising that he was delighted with the increases that streaming platforms experienced during the season, Telstra Sport Digital Manager, Andrew Considine added “digital streaming for netball set a number of records through the season and fans loved watching the mid-week action for the first time.

“The season has presented enormous challenges, but fans continue to flock to the Netball Live App to watch the best competition in the world and the best athletes.”

Super Netball’s broadcast agreements with Nine and Telstra are set to expire following the 2021 season.