A 38 percent increase in ratings for the opening match of the Women’s Big Bash League has reaffirmed its standing as the premier women’s sports league in Australia.
It vindicated Channel 7’s faith showcasing the WBBL in prime time on Thursday nights, with the nail-bitting Sydney Sixers victory over the Brisbane Heat in Mackay attracting 283,000 viewers across Seven and Fox. Kayo streaming figures would have pushed the number well above 300,000.
With two balls remaining, Maitlan Brown hits her first ball for six to claim victory for the Sixers against the Heat in the open WBBL match.Credit:Getty Images
This is significantly above the 204,000 Seven-Fox average of last season and four times more than last season’s AFLW combined average of 74,000.
The NRL claims NRLW ratings average 179,000, but they play just an 18-game season compared to the WBBL’s 59 matches, and the figures are heavily skewed by 743,000 as a curtain raiser to the men’s grand final.
A crowd of 1300 turned up to Great Barrier Reef Arena, restricted to 2500 because of construction, with more expected for the Heat’s Saturday night match against the Melbourne Stars.
The WBBL’s first game in Sydney, a low-key clash between the Sydney Thunder and Hobart Hurricanes at a surprisingly sunny Blacktown International Sports Park on Friay afternoon, attracted a crowd in the hundreds, which included a bay of excited school children who were unable to cheer the Thunder to victory.
Sydney Sixers captain Ellyse Perry celebrates a wicket during her player of the match performance against the Brisbane Heat in Mackay. Credit:Getty Images
Sixers and Thunder matches at North Sydney Oval next month are expected to attract bigger crowds.
Cricket Australia’s head of the Big Bash, Alastair Dodson, claimed the Thursday night prime-time slot was an important development for the WBBL.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity that presents to showcase the WBBL,” Dodson told the Herald and The Age. “It remains a focus for us going forward about optimising the schedule, with a prime-time objective.”
Channel Seven’s head of sport Lewis Martin claimed the network doubled their ratings from the opening WBBL match last season.
Sydney Thunder captain Rachael Haynes batting at Blacktown during the first WBBL match in Sydney this season. Thunder lost to the Hobart Hurricanes.Credit:Getty Images
“Our focus is to grow the WBBL. Those are the type of figures we expect,” Martin told the Herald and The Age.
“The WBBL cricketers are really exciting, they’re great personalities and leaders in their field,” said Martin, pointing to the great humour and insights the Sixers’ Alyssa Healy and Heat’s Grace Harris bring while miced up during play.
Thunder captain Rachael Haynes was concerned about the crowded sports marketplace with, the AFLW in full swing and the Men’s Twenty20 World Cup a week from starting. The opening match between Australia and New Zealand was officially sold out on Friday.
“It’s going to be interesting. It feels like there’s a lot of people competing for a similar time,” Haynes said at the WBBL launch during the week.
However Dobson feels the Men’s T20 World Cup will compliment the WBBL by raising awareness of cricket being underway early in the season.
“With the T20 World Cup, we’ve been able to schedule really creatively around it, whether that’s the Thursday night games that lead into some of the Australian games on the Friday night and working closely with Seven and Fox scheduling games that complement the WBBL,” Dobson said.
“From our perspective, the amount of cricket that’s going on over the next five or six weeks only helps grow interest.”
Dobson claimed the WBBL is the best T20 league in the world, men or women, with eleven of the world’s top 18 batters and six of the 10 top bowlers.
That doesn’t include Ellyse Perry, who has been overlooked by Australia’s selectors in T20 cricket for a year.
She sent a message with a player of the match performance on Thursday night, scoring 55 from 48 balls after the Sixers slumped to 3-25. Earlier Perry claimed 2-27 as she continues here return from a back injury.
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