Matildas ‘rewrite history books’ as semi-final smashes TV ratings records | OneFootball

The Matildas’ match against England has become the most watched television program – sport or otherwise – since 2001 when the existing rating system was established.

Wednesday’s match in Sydney reached 11.15 million Australians nationally, and had an average audience of 7.13 million according to OzTam ratings and Channel Seven.

Channel Seven’s head of network sport, Lewis Martin, said the Matildas performance “captured the Australian spirit like nothing we have seen in decades”.

“Australia was captivated last night as the Matildas played their hearts out and did us all proud,” he said. “The Matildas have rewritten the history books.”

The Matildas’ audience easily surpassed previous benchmark events such as the 2003 men’s Rugby World Cup final, which had attracted an average audience of about 4 million. More than 8 million people watched Cathy Freeman win gold at the 2000 Olympics under the previous ratings scheme.

957,000 viewers watched as the Matildas bowed out of the tournament on streaming platform 7plus, which Seven claims is a new record for streaming.

Optus Sport reported the match was its fourth-highest rating program ever on the streaming platform, just behind the Matildas’ weekend match against France which was third.

But Optus head of content Clive Dickens said the interest in Wednesday night’s match was larger overall than Saturday’s thrilling penalty shootout victory over Les Bleues, given the company’s list is based on aggregate minutes.

“There was 130 minutes of content in the France game because it had two 15-minute periods of extra time and penalties – whereas last night there was 94 minutes of content,” he said. “It’s volume-driven, and there was more of the content.”

The only raw ratings figure Optus Sport has released was for the Euro 2020 final in 2021 between England and Italy, which attracted “almost 1m households watching the match live”, Dickens said at the time.

Dickens said he expected an “enormous” audience for Saturday’s third-place match in Brisbane on Saturday.

“People will just want to celebrate what has been an incredible tournament,” he said.

The match will be screened on Channel Seven as well as Optus Sport, which is offering it free once people sign up for an account.

“Making our last Matildas’ game free for everyone on all platforms will make it an unbelievable celebration.”

On Monday, Fifa launched the tender process for broadcasters seeking rights to the 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s World Cups.

Seven West Media chief executive James Warburton said on Wednesday the Matildas’ success had had a “halo effect” on the business, but also that advertising returns were limited in football due to the sport’s format.

Dickens agreed, but wouldn’t go so far as to say football is better suited to subscription platforms.

“The AFL is an amazing game for monetisation because of the fact that the way the game is designed, so that when a goal is scored or when the ball goes out of play and because it’s got quarters, there are more understandable opportunities for advertising,” he said.

“I’m not aware of any top 20 sport that is 100% paid [broadcast only on paid services] or any top 20 sport that’s 100% free [on free-to-air television].”

Optus Sport reported more than 20m pieces of social media on the Women’s World Cup had been viewed since Saturday – approximately one-third the number of the entire tournament.

As the tournament nears its conclusion, Dickens said his company – and the sector generally – wanted to maintain the momentum around women’s football.

“It’s a really simple message: support your team whether it’s here in Australia as a member, here in Australia [watching the A-League Women] on Paramount Plus, or if you want to watch 10 of the amazing Matildas including Sam Kerr for Chelsea, subscribe to Optus Sport for the English Women’s Super League.”

Header image: [Photograph: Maddie Meyer/FIFA/Getty Images]