Nine kicks goals as 1 million-plus watch Spurs topple Manchester City
By Calum Jaspan
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Nine is making hay with its new English Premier League broadcast deal, as 1.14 million Australians tuned in to see a live free-to-air game on Saturday night.
Airing at 9.30pm after the Parramatta Eels v Sydney Roosters NRL match, Tottenham’s 2-0 away win against Manchester City had an average national audience of 326,000. The Premier League game was the top rating program of the night for viewers aged between 25 and 54 years old.
Manchester City’s disasterous loss at home to Tottenham reached more than 1 million Australians on Nine.Credit: Getty Images
The same fixture was also the most viewed football match ever on Stan Sport, and the second most viewed live event on the platform, after the Rugby World Cup final in 2023.
It was the second of three games that Nine is airing on its main free-to-air channel. Last week’s Aston Villa v Newcastle United match had 855,000 viewers, with an average audience of 236,000.
This week’s game, with a 1.14 million reach, was the second most viewed non-news program on Saturday behind the NRL match, which had a total reach of 1.23 million and an average viewership of 482,000.
Reach describes anyone who watched at least one minute of the program, while average describes the average number of people watching at any point across it.
Nine purchased the rights to show Premier League matches on its subscription streaming service Stan from Optus Sport in June for an up-front fee of $20 million, and an annual outlay of $60 million. Optus is subsidising 40 per cent of the $100 million-a-year deal it signed with the English top tier in late 2021.
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Next week’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea will be the final game shown on free-to-air, with Nine hoping the exposure of its new deal on its main commercial channel will translate to sign-ups to the Stan Sport package. The rest of the season will be available to view only on Stan Sport.
As part of its deal with Optus, Nine also acquired the rights to the FA Cup, England’s top knock-out cup competition. A spokesperson said the company would consider placing some select matches from the FA Cup on free-to-air and its free streaming platform, 9Now.
Nine boss Matt Stanton.Credit: Oscar Colman
For comparison, Nine’s NRL post-game show had an audience reach of 502,000.
The rollout of the Premier League across Nine’s platforms had been a “full-scale offensive play”, Nine chief Matt Stanton said on Sunday, with the first two weeks of action having reached more than 2 million Australians in total.
“What we are seeing talks exactly to what we know makes Nine such a compelling prospect for big sports and major competitions. The Premier League has never experienced anything like this in Australia in terms of interest, engagement and viewership in the build-up to the season, and now the rounds themselves,” Stanton said.
Using the NRL as a springboard for the Premier League on Stan, alongside the resurgent Wallabies, would only help grow fandom for football in Australia, said Amanda Laing, Nine’s broadcast and streaming boss.
Nine is due to deliver its full-year results on Wednesday. Stanton is expected shed some light on the strategy for the company after the planned completion of the sale of Domain to American digital real estate listings company CoStar this week.
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