The NRL finals are one of Australia’s most powerful marketing platforms.

Nine’s Director of Sport, Tom Malone, says the shift of the NRL season to four games of free-to-air rugby league a week represents one of the biggest and most powerful marketing platforms available to brands.

“I think it’s one of the best things about this NRL season. With games on Thursday night, Friday night and now Saturday night – which brings a whole new group of viewers to rugby league – as well as Sunday afternoon, we are making it a big run-up to the finals,” Malone said.  “That is an incredibly powerful platform for marketers to reach a cumulative audience of four million in four days.”

Malone said the 2017 season was throwing up an interesting mix of teams from different states battling to make the NRL Grand Final on October 1. 

“The Melbourne Storm are definitely out in front. However, the Roosters, Broncos, Cowboys, Eels and Sharks are all still in with a chance. I wouldn’t write off Manly or the Panthers either, who are also making a run for the top eight.

“There is a real cluster in the middle of the top eight and the question is who will be the other team in the Grand Final, because everyone expects the Storm to be there.”

Malone said that for marketers, the great power of the NRL was contained  in the fans’ enthusiasm for the game – and getting highly engaged at finals time. 

 “Consumers are not sitting back, they are ‘leaning in’, barracking for their team or someone else’s team, and it’s a really important platform for marketers to be part of,” he said.

 Demographically, despite perceptions of a male skew, the NRL audience is quite diverse.

“The NRL finals are not just about blokes,” Malone said. “Mums, grandparents, kids, sisters, brothers – everyone gets into it because at this time of year everyone has a team. 

Importantly for marketers, the NRL season feeds into a very strong summer of sport for Nine, which includes key periods such as Father’s Day and Christmas, when consumers are thinking about buying presents, spending, and what they will be doing for holidays.

 “We have a huge slate of great sports programming coming up on Channel Nine,” Malone said. “After the NRL season we go into netball for the Constellation Cup between Australia and New Zealand, marked by that fierce trans-Tasman rivalry. That will be exclusively live and free on Nine.

“We will also have the first ever coverage of the women’s Ashes in cricket, which will be huge. Then we have the men’s One Day Internationals and the T20, plus netball, with the Fast Five over two days –it was a huge success last year and will be again this year.

“Then we hit the men’s Ashes, Australia versus England, which promises to be one of the biggest cricket series in this country for a long time. 

“The Ashes starts on November 23 in Brisbane, then we head to Adelaide with the day/night Ashes test, then to Perth for the last ever Ashes test at the WACA.  From there we head to Melbourne on Boxing Day, before for the New Year’s Day test in Sydney.

“The slate of upcoming sports programming on Channel Nine is phenomenal. I don’t think it has ever been bigger: NRL finals, netball, the women’s Ashes, the men’s Ashes – it’s going to be huge.”