It\u2019s nearing winter in Australia, and for fans of the Australian Football League (AFL), that means one thing: Footy season is in full swing.<\/p>\n
For decades, advertising around Australia\u2019s most popular sport<\/a> meant following a simple formula. Brands bought premium placements around live matches, leaned on broadcast scale and trusted the popularity of the national game to do the rest.<\/p>\n But while live matches still command big audiences, the way Australians consume AFL content has changed. Fans are no longer engaging with the game solely through a single television screen. Instead, they\u2019re moving between live broadcasts, replay clips, highlights, and other second-screen behavior throughout the week.<\/p>\n Recent research found that 67% of audiences<\/a> now watch highlights online through sports news coverage and replays, creating a growing need for brands to think beyond the live game and consider strategies incorporating mobile, CTV and premium news environments.<\/p>\n Experts say AFL planning \u2014 and live sports media planning more broadly \u2014 can no longer revolve around isolated media placements.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we look at this for clients, we are considering more structured sequencing across live, replay and social,\u201d Sarah Keith, managing director at Involved Media, told The Current. \u201cInstead of treating them as separate channels, we\u2019re connecting them, using live for scale, replay for reinforcement and social to extend key moments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a more natural fit with how fans are consuming AFL content,\u201d Keith said.<\/p>\n Audiences have moved beyond the broadcast<\/p>\n The trend has been building for years, locally and globally. Major sporting moments now extend far beyond the live event<\/a>, increasingly driving sustained engagement through highlights, commentary and social conversation long after the game ends.<\/p>\n According to Nic Nasrallah, account director at GumGum, many advertisers operate under outdated assumptions about how fans actually consume AFL content.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in the day, an AFL sponsorship across linear TV was the be-all and end-all,\u201d Nasrallah said. \u201cYou\u2019d lock in your spots, set the campaign live and forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Nasrallah points out that modern sports audiences are rarely fully focused on a single screen. While watching a live match, fans are likely to be simultaneously checking injury updates, debating team selections or monitoring fantasy scores.<\/p>\n