Brisbane’s historic victory over Fremantle reached 6.5 million Australians and delivered the largest AFL streaming audience recorded by 7plus.

The 2026 AFL Grand Final has become the most-watched program on Australian television this year, drawing a national total TV audience of 4.52 million viewers.

Seven’s live coverage of the Brisbane Lions’ premiership victory over Fremantle at the MCG reached 6.5 million Australians across broadcast television and 7plus Sport.

According to the network, the result was the highest-rating AFL Grand Final on record and represented an 8 per cent increase on the 2025 decider.

Streaming also reached a new high, with 1.42 million viewers watching the match through 7plus Sport. That figure was up 44 per cent from 984,000 in 2025 and helped deliver the platform’s biggest day to date.

The Grand Final and its surrounding coverage dominated Saturday’s television rankings. The match, post-game presentations, pre-game entertainment and AFL Grand Final: On the Ground were the four most-watched programs of the day, followed by 7NEWS in fifth place.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Seven commanded an 86 per cent commercial audience share across all viewers and an 88.5 per cent share among viewers aged 25 to 54. The network reported that 7plus secured 85.6 per cent of Saturday’s broadcast video-on-demand audience and 89.3 per cent of live streaming.

The post-match presentation reached six million viewers and attracted a national total TV audience of 3.96 million, an increase of 18 per cent on last year.

Pre-game entertainment featuring Kylie Minogue, G Flip, Michael Paynter, William Barton and Mike Brady reached 4.35 million people, with an average audience of 1.83 million, up 20 per cent year-on-year.

“In an extraordinary end to the greatest Finals Series we’ve ever seen, Australians turned to Seven and 7plus Sport in record numbers,” Southern Cross Media Group director of sport, television, audio and streaming Chris Jones said.

“To see audiences of this scale across the entire day is an outstanding result and speaks to the incredible power of the AFL and the appetite Australians have to experience our biggest sporting moments live and free.”

The strong result extended across Seven’s digital platforms. Content published through 7AFL generated more than 16.4 million impressions, 1.5 million engagements and 9.3 million video views across Grand Final Day.

The Finals Series, excluding the Grand Final, reached 9.1 million Australians and averaged 1.12 million viewers, up 9 per cent from 2025. Seven’s coverage of the complete AFL season reached 18.5 million people and recorded an average total TV audience of 681,000, also up 9 per cent year-on-year.

Seven head of AFL and sport innovation Gary O’Keeffe congratulated coach Chris Fagan and the Lions on securing their third consecutive premiership and completing the club’s second three-peat.

For Fremantle, the defeat ended a season in which the Dockers reached only the second Grand Final in the club’s history while continuing their pursuit of a maiden premiership.

The Grand Final was called by a commentary team including James Brayshaw, Brian Taylor, Abbey Holmes, Kane Cornes, Luke Hodge, Matthew Richardson, Nick Riewoldt, Daisy Pearce and Joel Selwood.

The 2026 AFL Grand Final is available to replay free through 7plus Sport.