Super League Grand Final draws disappointing TV audience

The initial portion of viewing figures for the Super League Grand Final between Wigan Warriors and Hull KR have been revealed.

Figures reported by Rugby League On TV have shown that an average audience of 269,000 watched the showpiece event which Wigan Warriors won 9-2.

Those figures are only for Sky Sports Main Event, the lead channel to broadcast the game, with the figures from Sky Sports’ new streaming service Sky Sports+ yet to be revealed.

It’s unclear how many will utilise Sky Sports+ over the Main Event channel but it will likely be a smaller figure, but enough to represent an increase in audience from 2023.

The 2023 Grand Final drew in a TV audience of 267,000 per rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads, meaning the 2024 clash has recorded a minor increase before the Sky Sports+ figures are even accounted for.

It was also revealed that the peak audience this year came in at 373,000 with an audience share of 2.3%. That peak was marginally smaller than the 2023 total of 377,000.

Grand Final did 269k average & 373k average on Sky Sports Main Event. 2.3% audience share.

No overnights are given for Sports + so these will add on.

Shoes that having the Grand Final on the international weekend works well.

— RugbyLeagueonTV.com (@rugbyleagueontv) October 13, 2024

The figures have remained relatively stagnant and despite the expected boost when the Super League+ figures are confirmed, there is a worrying trend of spiralling viewing figures compared to Super League Grand Finals of recent memory.

As part of rugbyleaguehub.com’s report, it was revealed that 2022 drew an average audience of 400,000, 2021 recorded 300,000 and the infamous 2020 Grand Final at the KCOM recorded approximately 400,000 as well.

All of those figures highlight the marked decrease in the 2023 and 2024 figures.

One positive that can be taken from the 2024 Super League Grand Final is that the attendance was significantly up with over 68,000 in the crowd at Old Trafford.

That figure marked the highest since the 2017 Grand Final and represented an increase of 10,000 spectators, which correlates with the fact Hull KR replaced Catalans Dragons in the showpiece event.