Below, supporters can see how Widnes Vikings scored in the 2025 IMG club grading.
The Vikings’ points in the 2025 Grading were 9.39, ranking us 19th overall.
We also saw the fourth biggest increase in IMG points, rising from 8.60 to 9.39. This improvement was only bettered by Hull KR, Leigh, and Bradford.
FANDOM – 2.95 FROM 5 POINTS
FANDOM – Attendance
Average attendance for league fixtures over the last three years gave us 1.5 points from a possible 2.5 points. With attendances having increased from an average of 1844 in 2023, 1990 in 2024, and now 2161 in 2025, our 3-year average settled at 1998.
To get 2 points, this average needs to increase to 3,000, and for 2.5 points, crowds would need to reach an average of 7,500 over the three years.
FANDOM – Digital Following
Our digital followers gave 0.05 points from a possible 0.2 points. We have grown from 106,608 followers across the recognised platforms to 109,957.
Next year, the club will need to surpass 200,000 followers to get 0.1 points, or above 300,000 would get the maximum 0.15 points. If we achieve 10% growth on the previous year, we can earn a bonus of 0.05 points.
FANDOM – Digital Engagements
We saw our digital engagements rise from 2,021,745 to 6,062,830 during the IMG year 2024-2025.
However, with the thresholds changing, we only achieved 0.2 points for surpassing 2 million engagement. We also achieved 0.2 bonus points for the 10% growth. This gave us 0.4 points from a possible 0.8.
Over 10 million engagements would get 0.4 points, or over 20 million engagements would get 0.6 points. We can still continue to achieve the bonus points for 10% yearly growth.
FANDOM – Website Visits
Our website traffic increased from 480,355 to 557,116. In 2024, this achieved 0,5 points; however, with the change to the thresholds in 2025, it earned us 0.125 points. The club did recieve an additional 0.125 points for achieving the 10% year-on-year growth. This means our total score for website visits was 0.25 from a possible 0.5 points.
Over 500,000 visits would get 0.125 points, 1 million would get 0.25 points, and 2 million would get the maximum 0.375 points. The 10% year-on-year growth bonus would see us recieves a further 0.125 points.
FANDOM – Viewership
For TV viewership, we scored 0.75 points from a possible 1 point.
Although we streamed at least five games with a minimum of three-camera production, commentary, and graphics, the maximum 1 point is only awarded to the six clubs with the highest average match audiences, for which Super League clubs will always attract higher viewership levels.
Below, supporters can see a comparison of the Digital Grading Criteria from 2025 and 2024.
FINANCE – 1.75 FROM 4.5 POINTS
Starting with Non-Centralised turnover (total turnover minus money received from RFL), we scored 0.5 points for having a turnover in excess of £500k. We would need a significant increase in turnover to achieve 1.5 points in the next year.
Our percentage of turnover that is not from the Centre achieves the maximum points possible of 0.75.
For adjusted profit, we scored 0.25 points from a maximum of 0.5 points for our average loss being less than £1miilion. We made a profit in 2024, but are still suffering the losses of previous years in our average. To score the maximum points, the club needs to be profitable over the three-year average.
For owner investment, we scored 0 points from a possible 0.5 points. We have had significant investment from new and existing shareholders, but it would not exceed the minimum £100k over a 3-year average.
For balance sheet strength, we scored 0.5 points for having net assets greater than £1. Whilst this does not sound like something to boast about, the majority of clubs that do not own their ground or training facilities do not achieve anything in this area.
STADIUM – 1.9925 FROM 3 POINTS
CRITERIA – We scored the maximum 1.5 points on offer for stadium criteria, with the stadium returning to being Super League standard.
UTILISATION– Utilisation of the stadium is the average attendance over three years divided by capacity. We scored 0.2425 in this area.
PRIMACY OF TENURE – We scored the maximum 0.25 points for having primacy of tenure, following support from Halton Borough Council in updating the lease.
ADVERTISING – We scored 0 points from 0.125 points for not having digital perimeter advertising or a big screen, but the return on investment numbers simply do not stack up for us to do this.
PERFORMANCE – 1.9429 FROM 5 POINTS
Clubs are ranked from 1-35 each year, with each position earning an additional 0.1111 points each year. The three-year average of our positions stands at 1.9429 points.
The winner of each league or cup is then awarded additional points for that individual year.
COMMUNITY – 1 POINT FROM 2.5 POINTS
We scored 0.5 points from a possible 1.5 points for having a catchment between 130k and 260k, divided by the number of teams in the council district.
From 2025, we will have the ability to use other catchment areas if we are providing services under a Rugby League Development plan that is signed off by a Local Authority. Our Foundation trustees are actively working to get these agreements in place.
We scored 0.5 points from a possible 1 point for the turnover of our foundation, averaging above £50k for the last three years.
This rises to 0.75 points for £250k turnover and 1pt for £1 million turnover.
