The Best Content to Create for the AFL Audience Based On Their Reddit & Organic Search Behaviour

Key Takeaways

Men’s and Women’s AFL are growing in search interest YoY at 20% and 37% respectively.

• Recommendations
  Invest in both leagues to maintain year-round visibility in the AFL. The women’s season operates in the off-season for men’s. 

Victoria (+15%), Queensland (+15%) and New South Wales (+11%) have seen the largest YoY growth in search interest. 

• Recommendations
  (i) Consider focusing on these regions as they grow.
  (ii) Keep in mind that Western Australia (-9%) and Tasmania (-1%) are the only regions decreasing in interest YoY. 

AFL fans are critical thinkers. 32% of discussions are centred around history, technical game details and stats.

• Recommendations
  (i) Discuss AFL history, analytics and hypotheticals. 
  (ii) Build precedent for unique AFL scenarios, post “what if” questions and ask fans “would you rather” engagements.

24% of the discussion explores the ways fans engage with and watch the sport. There is whitespace in quality post-match content.

• Recommendations
  (i) Create content with AFL professionals (previous coaches, umpires) to dissect games.
  (ii) Create post-game highlights that can be watched on YouTube, focus on wider angles.
  (iii) Recap songs or other interesting media played during games.

20% of the discussion is focused on audience members as well as their participation and opinions of matches and events. 

• Recommendations
  (i) Highlight and support mega fans of the sport.
  (ii) Invest in post-match activations like kick-to-kick, that get fans directly involved.

15% of fans are spending time talking about learning AFL or generally understanding all the rules, rituals or origins of the sport.

• Recommendations
  (i) Educate fans with easy-to-access content about the sport and its evolution. 
  (ii) Create a segment that takes viewers through different plays to explain the theory behind the sport.

8% of fans are talking about the expansion of the sport beyond its popularity in Australia, as well as building more focus on the women’s league. 

• Recommendations
  (i) Discuss key comparisons and differences between AFL and other sports like NFL, and NRL.
  (ii) Highlight top plays by women’s leagues to emphasize the talent in their respective games.

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Purpose of Research

• Identify the primary inquiries posed by the AFL audience in Australia on Search and Reddit. 
• Pinpoint recurring themes within these questions to uncover content opportunities.‍
• Analyze top-performing Search & Reddit content to unveil key tactics to reach the AFL audience in Australia.

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People are searching for AFL during the months of March to September (in-season). The sport is seeing 20% more interest YoY.

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The women’s AFL season fills in down periods for AFL in January to April and July to December. The sport is growing at 37% YoY.

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AFL is most popular in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Victoria and Queensland are seeing top growth in interest for AFL.

*Values range from 0-100, with 100 indicating the highest popularity fractionally. 

It reflects query proportion, not count. For example, a country with 80% 'bananas' queries scores double than one with 40%.

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The following content themes were identified among the top search queries for the AFL audience on Google:

*The data encompasses top search queries in Australia, pertaining to the keyword “AFL”.

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Top subreddit communities based on membership size:

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AFL fans talk about technical details of the sport, fan behaviour, and ways to watch and engage with it. 

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They are highly analytical, hypothetical and driven by prior events in the sport’s history. 

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Create an AFL history segment that addresses unique and top moments from the game’s past.

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Other Discussion Points‍

Which AFL game gives you the most nostalgia and why?

Is this the craziest trade period in AFL history?

What is your most iconic moment in AFL history?

When did Australia start playing Aussie rules football?

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Start conversations by posing “what if” questions. AFL fans love a hypothetical.  

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Other Discussion Points

If I had Elon Musk amounts of money I would buy all the sponsorship deals for my club and remove them from the guernseys, if enough from all teams. What would you do to your club or AFL if you had that amount of spare money?

You can pick one player to replay his career without ever getting an injury. Who are you taking?

If you could add any athlete from any sporting code to your team, who are you adding?

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Join the analysis and provide content for AFL nerds looking to build ‘encyclopedias’ of information. 

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Other Discussion Points

How much does Sydney need to lose by to go below Brisbane?

How many teams have lost a final in week 1 but gone on to win the flag that year?

In all of sport (AFL, NFL, NHL, NBA), how many players have kicked 1000+ goals in their career?

what is more important in terms of development of a player: how many AFL level games they've played or how many preseasons/years in the system they've been in?

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AFL consumption is highly discussed among this audience. The topic includes how to watch and what additional media exists.

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People are looking for better ways to engage with their sport.

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Be involved in all elements of an AFL match. People reference things from music played to ads run.

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Other Discussion Points

Sportsbet ads before a 10 second highlight clip on the AFL app??

What song is played after a draw?

Watched ‘The Club’ For The First Time, What Are Your Thoughts On The Flick?

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Fans don’t respect or trust AFL media outlets.

More AFL Professionals

AFL fans are ready to hear from actual professionals on the sport in half-time, post-game and commentator segments.

More Coverage & Transparency

They also want more frequent AFL content & transparency when it comes data and insights from matches & players.

Better Game Footage

Fans feel like they are missing out on quality playtime content, and are asking for more wide-shots of plays.

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Fan behaviour during matches and opportunities to participate have been generating discussion amongst AFL fans.

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Highlight & support mega fans from each team. 

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Other Discussion Points

Do many people watch Australian Football League (AFL) in Australia?

People who go for a team outside of their state, why?

Bit if a weird one, do you consider the premiership cup or the premiership flag to be the more important?^*

Now that Gather Round…. A Festival of Footy is over, what do you think was done right/needs improvement?

*Post has been deleted but comments are still active and are answering this listed question.

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Fans are consistently fact-checking themselves or investing time into learning how to play the sport themselves.

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Educate fans with specific facts about the league and even incentivize them to try playing.

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Other Discussion Points

How many players on the field would be too many/too few?

An incident before they changed the kick-in rule. Does anybody remember this, or am I imagining it?

How did Australian Football become known as Aussie Rules Football?

Could someone explain the Barassi Line? I'm an American interested in sports, and came across this term that is supposedly the dividing line in Australia between where Australian rules football is most popular and where rugby league is most popular

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Lead the conversation in how AFL can continue to expand with more women’s coverage and by making it popular abroad. 

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Highlight ways that AFL can become more mainstream internationally and support the women’s league.

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Other Discussion Points

Promotion and Relegation for AFLW?

Who is the most skillful player in the AFLW?

How popular are Rugby Union, Rugby League, and Australian Football League (AFL) in Australia?

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*A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term.