Alarm bells ring over TV ratings

THE A-League faces another major relevancy test tonight when the once cut-through Sydney derby competes for eyeballs.

The code was already enduring a downturn in attendances, viewerships and interest, but alarm bells rang when last weekend’s Big Blue drew just 25,000 viewers on subscription channel Fox Sports.

Newcastle’s clash with Western Sydney earlier – two teams unlikely to make the finals — drew just 10,000 people on Fox Sports.

The woeful figures, some of the worst ever registered in the competition’s 14-year history, saw the domestic competition drop below Super Rugby and surfing’s Quiksilver Pro.

The domestic soccer competition has always been outranked by AFL and NRL, but this year it has been left in the shade by Supercars, which peaked on the weekend with 199,000 viewers for racing at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.

Those figures do not include free-to-air viewers.

FFA chiefs hope for an upswing when the finals begin in three weeks and will launch a finals marketing campaign.

They also point to changing consumption of sport — including Kayo Sports and the soccer-specific MyFootball Live app — which would add tens of thousands of viewers to each match.

FFA also claim attendances are “steady”. After claiming just 5012 people at their 4-1 defeat of Brisbane Roar last week, Melbourne City believes a crowd of at least 7000 should attend today’s match with Adelaide United.