{"id":442575,"date":"2025-03-05T08:10:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T09:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=442575"},"modified":"2025-03-05T21:13:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:13:50","slug":"nrls-whopping-increase-as-us-ratings-soar-for-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=442575","title":{"rendered":"NRL's whopping increase as US ratings soar for Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The TV ratings for Saturday night (Sunday AEDT) in the US are in, with rugby league \ufeffhitting the mark in Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NRL<\/a> returned for its second stab at the American market to open the premiership season with the US ratings showing a 510 per cent increase in viewership for the first NRL game.<\/p>\n

The Raiders' 30-8 victory over the Warriors, which aired \ufeffon Saturday afternoon Vegas time, attracted 371,000 total viewers on the FOX free-to-air broadcast network.<\/p>\n

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\"Ethan<\/p>\n

Taking into account \ufeffthe viewership on the international streaming service Watch NRL, it is understood that the overall audience for the Raiders-Warriors game exceeded 400,000 people in the US.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, this accounts for more eyeballs on screens than \ufeffthe Warriors' base in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/footyindustryAU\/status\/1897118167920697451?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

During last year's inaugural \ufeffvisit, the league's most watched game was the Rabbitohs clash with the Sea Eagle. This drew an average audience of just 61,000<\/a> \u2014 a lower figure than the NRL would have hoped for.<\/p>\n

The ratings from the pilot year showed that a small American audience tuned in and that viewers dropped off as the double-header wore on.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But 12 months on, \ufeffthe NRL has seen exponential year-on-year growth in its product, and if things continue on an upward trend, the code could challenge other major sports before the end of the league's five-year deal with Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like the NRL, the Formula 1 world championship is also tapping into the US market.<\/p>\n

November's Las Vegas Grand Prix was watched by 951,000 Americans on ESPN.<\/p>\n

B\ufeffut, similarly to last year's subside in viewers for the festival of rugby league, the numbers reduced for the second NRL match at Allegiant Stadium with the Panthers-Sharks only attracting 33,000.<\/p>\n

It is believed the one-sided women's Test match between the Jillaroos and England could have affected the ratings<\/a>, with viewers switching off during the 90-4 contest.<\/p>\n

The blowout opening Super League fixture between Wigan and Warrington did not have ratings recorded as it was broadcast on the FOX Soccer Plus channel.<\/p>\n

Despite all of this, the NRL double-header \ufeffdelivered more than 400,000 American viewers to FOX \u2014 enough to make rival US broadcasters take note.<\/p>\n

In Australia, TV audiences across Nine and Fox Sports are set to reach 2 million, including around 300,000 viewers in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

With Nine broadcasting the Jiillaroos and Panthers-Sharks matches\ufeff live and free, the women's Test set the record for the most viewed women's international rugby league match, and the NRL heavyweights attracted the biggest-ever Australian TV audience for a regular NRL season game.<\/p>\n

\"'That<\/p>\n

NRL boss Andrew Abdo<\/a> was pleased with the review highlights Vegas had produced but also reiterated that the league's goals would take time to achieve.<\/p>\n

"I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved in the US," he said.<\/p>\n

"Played in front of the biggest crowd for a season opener in 15 years, the huge increase in TV audience provides us further momentum in showcasing rugby league to Americans … the challenge for us is to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n

The venture will continue again in 2026, with the Bulldogs and Dragons among the sides rumoured to be making the trip to Sin City.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The TV ratings for Saturday night (Sunday AEDT) in the US are in, with rugby league \ufeffhitting the mark in Las Vegas. The NRL returned […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":442577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=442575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442580,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442575\/revisions\/442580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/442577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=442575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=442575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=442575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}