it should probably be noted too that back in 2008 there were reports of potential exhibitions games in 2009 :

The AFL has grand plans for expanding its presence into India with two exhibition matches to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in New Delhi and Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in early 2009.

"Presently the AFL and Austrade (Australian Trade Commission) are partnering to deliver exhibition games in India in late January - early February 2009. We are planning to have the game played between two AFL clubs before an attending crowd of approximately 10,000 people and to be televised both in Australia, and in India,” said Austrade's Peter Linford, who was based in Melbourne until late July when he was relocated to New Delhi. "We will link Australian and Indian businesses to deliver the match and to provide profiling sponsorship opportunities for mutual benefit. It is our expectation the game will directly support 30+ companies through the game itself, and building the event over a five year plan will take this further,” Linford said.
Along with Essendon, Richmond and North Melbourne football clubs have been lobbying hard to be involved in the first games to be played in India.

"No decision has been made about the teams yet, but we are very keen to go and be one of the clubs involved in the first AFL match played over there. It's a great opportunity. There are growing cultural and population ties between India and Australia," Richmond football club president Gary March told The Age newspaper.
 

Showing the NAB cup games for free in foreign countries this year is definately a sign that they're serious about expanding overseas. Whether they'll do it next year or not, who knows. My guess is they'll be checking the NAB Cup internet stats carefully and seeing if this causes an increase in foreign people tuning in to available televised AFL games, then they'll go from there. Viewers on the ground is going to be the strongest indicator the AFL have of both interest and awareness.