The Jarryd Hayne effect is in full force ’round these parts, the numbers are in to back that up.
We already know the buzz around the now-NFL player’s swapping of Parramatta blue and gold for San Francisco red, gold, white, and black has been enormous, particularly within the media (and especially with your pals here at PEDESTRIAN.TV wink wink).
But with yesterday’s debut game in the can, it turns out that the public was also keenly tuned in.
The game between the 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings was ESPN Australia‘s highest rated program of all time. Even beating out the 2014 Super Bowl in which the Seattle Seahawks stomped the Denver Broncos all up and down the field, if you can believe it.
The live broadcast of the game, which began at 12:15pm yesterday afternoon, drew in an average of 116,000 viewers. Which might not seem like much, but when you consider the fact that that means 4.2% of all households with subscription TV were tuned in, and that it was the highest rated program on pay TV for ALL of yesterday, it becomes way more impressive.
The figure eclipsed ESPN’s previous high water mark of 107,100 viewers – set by the aforementioned Hawks/Broncs Super Bowl farce.
The demand for American sports coverage in Australia is one of the most rapidly growing markets in sports – particularly among the key demographic of young males.
ESPN holds the rights to the majority of NFL games in Australia, whilst 7Mate is broadcasting three of the Sunday games live per week, and will broadcast this year’s Super Bowl.
Photo: Ezra Shaw via Getty Images.
via mUmBRELLA.
