AFL Grand Final delivers record audiences as brands cash in on footy's biggest stage

The AFL Grand Final delivered a bonanza for all and sundry, except, of course, if you're a Dockers fan.

This year's nailbiter, which saw the Brisbane Lions secure a historic three-peat over Fremantle, delivered record television and streaming audiences, packed out the MCG, filled Melbourne's hotels and sent interstate travel surging.

In short, live sport has again proved its power to command the attention of millions of Australians at the same time.

On screens across the country is where Seven really flexed its muscle. Total TV audience hit 4.5 million, up 8% on last year and the highest-rating AFL Grand Final on record.

The match reached 6.5 million Australians, while a record 1.42 million watched on 7plus Sport, up 44% from 984,000 in 2025 and helping deliver the streaming service its biggest day ever.

At the MCG, 100,023 fans watched the Lions make history, while the economic impact spread well beyond the stadium.

Melbourne Airport welcomed 243,000 passengers across Thursday and Friday ahead of the Grand Final, with 52 additional return flights from Perth during the week compared with the same period last year.

Early CoStar data put Melbourne hotel occupancy at 87% across the weekend as interstate visitors poured into the city.

The numbers provide another demonstration of the extraordinary commercial ecosystem that has developed around Australia's biggest sporting events, spanning broadcast and streaming rights, sponsorship, tourism, hospitality and brand activations.

For AAMI, that enormous concentration of attention provided the stage for the latest instalment of its long-running AAMI To the Rescue campaign, this time enlisting Kylie Minogue for a stadium-wide activation built around the delivery of the Grand Final match ball.

But while AAMI had arguably one of the biggest assets of the weekend at its disposal, its social execution failed to generate the same currency.

Meltwater analysis of selected brands around the grand final put AAMI last for social engagement, with just 3,840 engagements. By comparison, Telstra generated 180,000 and Toyota 885,000.

That result isn't surprising. On Instagram and YouTube, AAMI simply repurposed the TV campaign rather than developing unique social content around the activation. Its Facebook page has not posted since 20 August, while its TikTok account carried no grand final content at all.

The missed opportunity becomes more striking given Minogue's extraordinary social performance.

Content featuring the singer generated 279,000 engagements on grand final day, according to Meltwater, exceeding the 248,000 generated by match-related posts. Minogue was also the biggest name across activations and fan experiences during September, generating 453,000 engagements.

Sherrin also converted the moment into social currency, generating almost 31,000 engagements and selling out its limited-edition Team Kylie x Sherrin football collection.

AAMI, meanwhile, had Kylie Minogue, the AFL Grand Final, access to the MCG and a storyline specifically designed around one of the biggest cultural moments of the year. But relatively little of that was translated into social content built for the places where the conversation was actually happening.

Meltwater vice president ANZ Ross Candido said the results showed simply being associated with a major cultural event was no longer enough.

“Being present at a cultural event isn't enough anymore. The brands that win are the ones reading where attention is building, and who's driving it, in real time, so they can join the conversation rather than interrupt it,” Candido said.

Seven's coverage of the pre-game entertainment, which also featured G Flip, Michael Paynter, William Barton and Mike Brady, reached 4.35 million people and recorded a national total TV audience of 1.83 million, up 20% on last year.

The streaming growth is particularly notable.

While the overall Grand Final audience increased 8%, the audience watching through 7plus jumped 44%. Seven said the platform commanded an 85.6% share of the BVOD audience on Saturday and an 89% share of live streaming.

Across the full AFL season, including the Grand Final, Seven and 7plus Sport reached 18.5 million people, with the average total TV audience increasing 9% to 681,000.

The commercial impact of the weekend also feeds into Victoria's increasingly aggressive major events strategy.

The state's major events calendar generated an estimated $3.64 billion in economic impact in 2025, attracted close to eight million attendances and supported almost 17,000 jobs across the events sector and broader visitor economy, according to the Victorian Government.

Earlier this month, Melbourne added another major international sporting event to the calendar when the Los Angeles Rams played the San Francisco 49ers at the MCG.

It made Melbourne the first city to host an NFL regular-season game alongside a Formula One Grand Prix and tennis Grand Slam.

And the events machine isn't slowing down. Melbourne Park is preparing for its busiest October on record, with more than 350,000 people expected across 55 events spanning music, football and basketball, including Olivia Dean, Tame Impala, Melbourne Victory and the NBL.

At a time when audiences are increasingly fragmented across platforms, the Grand Final managed to put 100,023 people inside one stadium and reach another 6.5 million across television and streaming.

For one Saturday afternoon at least, Australia's attention wasn't particularly difficult to find.