Btw, how do they figure out these ratings figures? Do they actually poll people or do they rely on a feedback from their Foxtel boxes?
These statistics are collated from people who have decided to join up to the "program" and donate data for collating. This data is then spread out as a reflective % of the population and turned into currency for media companies to bargain with. This is done across all countries.
So when a figure such as 3 million people watched a certain show, this does not mean the data was collated from 3 million people. It is a derivative of the 5000 or so people who have decided to be part of the program. These numbers are incredibly accurate for popular free to air programming due to basic understanding of statistics, however more niche shows and sports I feel at not nearly as accurate.
For a game as niche as Rugby, it would be worth considering what percentage of this small figure who sign up for the program would be part of the rugby community?
Issues such a demographics are carefully considered when making up the sample space.
I haven't looked at this stuff for a while, but I believe the sample space for pay television as opposed to FTA is much smaller than the 5000.
So these figures are being estimated from a very small base, and I would suggest not from the target demographic.