Exclusive: Record ANZ Premiership TV viewership despite rocky future

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Author: Nathan Limm,
Publish Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026, 1:15pm

Netball New Zealand’s battle to secure an ANZ Premiership for next year comes despite significant growth in audience and engagement in 2026.

The governing body has emailed staff and coaches at the Stars, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and Mainland Tactix to say their contracts at this stage will not be extended past July 31.

The ANZ Premiership is currently without a broadcast deal or competition plan for next year, and Netball New Zealand (NNZ) remains in discussions with the New Zealand Netball Players Association.

The Herald has obtained TVNZ’s viewership statistics for the national domestic competition’s return to fully free-to-air television.

The ANZ Premiership attracted 1.05 million unique television viewers, not including anyone who watched on TVNZ+, either live or on demand. This is a 16% increase on 2025 and a 64% increase since 2024.

The grand final had a 60% increase in viewership, with over 120,000 Kiwis tuning in live. Photo / Photosport

For context, the All Blacks had 1.45m unique viewers across their three Nations Championship tests against France, Italy and Ireland.

The average live television audience for an ANZ Premiership fixture was 51,800, a 32% increase on 2025 for the average number of people watching a game live on TV2.

The grand final between the Northern Mystics and Southern Steel saw a 60% increase in viewership, with more than 120,000 New Zealanders watching live – the most ever. Before that, 82,159 viewers had tuned in for the elimination final, 25,742 more than last year.

The overall average attendance for the ANZ Premiership is up 3.2%, following a 15% jump in 2024. In total, 70,236 fans attended games, including the finals.

70,236 fans attended ANZ Premiership games in 2026. Photo / Photosport

The national netball competition has also seen significant growth in online engagement, garnering 52.2m social media impressions (views, likes, comments and shares combined), up 16% from 2025. The official ANZ Premiership pages (not including teams) have seen a 33% increase in followers, totalling 166,500.

Last year’s competition was a hybrid broadcast, with two of the three games each round on Sky Sport, and the other screened free-to-air on TVNZ 2. With the broadcast fully run by TVNZ this year, NNZ have had to use its own cash reserves to keep the competition going.

This year, 2026, marks the third consecutive year the ANZ Premiership has been without a confirmed competition for the following season. In February, the Northern Mystics launched a bid to become one of Australia’s Super Netball expansion sides in 2028. However, Netball Australia has been quiet on the expansion front since signing its five-year, free-to-air broadcast deal with Nine Network.

The Silver Ferns remain on Sky Sport for this year, which at this stage only includes the four Constellation Cup fixtures against the Australian Diamonds in October. New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games tests fall under Sky’s pre-existing deal to broadcast the Games. There has been no word from NNZ about a Taini Jamison series against a visiting international side.

The Silver Ferns begin their Commonwealth Games campaign against hosts Scotland on Saturday in Glasgow.

NNZ’s interim chief executive Jane Patterson and board chair Alastair Carruthers are in Glasgow for the Games, after which Patterson’s tenure ends. She has given just one interview to the Herald since taking charge in January.

Jennah Wootten will take over as permanent CEO next month.

Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.