Will low viewing numbers push rugby free to air?

Roar Guru

By rugbyfuture, 22 Jan 2010 rugbyfuture is a Roar Guru

Tagged:: free to air tv, Rugby Union

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It is quite apparent that rugby in Australia is currently at a very firm down. We are yet to see what the new season will bring. There is a possibility, however, that this limiting down may break rugby back into free to air.

Before the viewing numbers were such that is wasn’t viable for FTA channels to buy the rights, but highly viable for Pay TV.

Now, as viewing figures are reaching possible record lows, rugby could cost the same as bull riding, the new fast pace basketball, and various other obscure sports.

The difference being that there is still a presence, which once the FTA barrier is broken, could be capitalised on.

There are two cost barriers with free to air TV.

One is the cost barrier for the sports, which can be capitalised on and provide ratings success; the other is the low cost, low budget airtime filling sports, such is seen often on ONE HD.

So current ratings set forth by various media monitoring could be a benefit to the rugby watching public.

This larger exposure then leads to slightly greater ratings and eventual re-growth, hopefully past retention point, to a competitive viability.

This system is possible, and quite probable if, after this season, rugby continues on its slope in terms of viewing figures. It may be a blessing in disguise.

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The Crowd Says (440) | Page 1 of Comments

MattRusty said | January 22nd 2010 @ 6:19am | Report comment

Latest tv figures for rah rah isn’t good…

Statistics released recently by TV survey company Repucom:

“While the battle for top spots was between NRL and AFL clubs, the Rugby Union crew would be sadly disappointed with their following in Australia. The Super 14 Union sides were unable to rank higher than the newly formed A-League competition and despite ever-increasing coverage and international flavour, the Rah Rah’s are unable to cement themselves as serious contenders in the Australian sporting landscape.”

In some interesting rankings; the following are the Top 10 sporting teams across all Australian codes rated by TV viewers:

1. Brisbane Broncos

2. Parramatta Eels

3. Collingwood Magpies

4. Geelong Cats

5. St George Illawarra Dragons

6. St Kilda

7. Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs

8. Melbourne Storm

9. Carlton Blues

10. Western Bulldogs

Whats even more interesting about the statistics, is that the Melbourne Storm NRL franchise continue to rate highly despite being broadcast at early hours of the morning into the Victorian market.

The Storm in their short career have achieved not only Premiership success several times, but are highly followed across the country.

http://www.nrlnews.com/2010/01/22/broncos-eels-outrate-afl-teams-on-tv/

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- rugbyfuture said | January 22nd 2010 @ 6:26am | Report comment
  
  exactly what this is in response to
  
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  - Sam el Perro said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:10am | Report comment
    
    It seems clear. It is affirming your argument that Rugby is, indeed, at what you call a “very firm down” by showing there isn’t a rugby union team in the top team sporting teams in Australia.
    
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- Justin said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:15am | Report comment
  
  The list is no surprise. Its a mix of current winning teams and traditional powerhouses. Of course the Storm will be high up they are the team of the decade and would be heavily viewed in NSW and QLD.
  
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- Big Steve said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:21am | Report comment
  
  Can anyone shed anymore light on what these numbers mean?
  
  I clicked on the link and all it says is what Mattrusty quoted above, “the following are the Top 10 sporting teams across all Australian codes rated by TV viewers:”
  
  What does this mean?
  
  It sounds like the results of a pole of peoples favourite sporting teams by people who watch tv?
  
  If it is based on numbers of people who watch TV, is it total numbers of viwers for a year? Total number of viewers per year/number of games played? Is it higest rated game per year?
  
  Satistics mean nothing without the very specific details of what data they are based on?
  
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  - Dogz R Barkn said | January 22nd 2010 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
    
    We know all the ratings for individual matches – so my guess it’s just an accumulation of these by club.
    
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- Dogz R Barkn said | January 22nd 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
  
  Here’s the fuller DT article:
  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/why-nrl-deserves-bumper-tv-deal/story-e6frexnr-1225822324520
  
  Not a bad ranking for the CB Bulldogs – but we can do better.
  
  I note that our Southern cousins are in 10th spot – that’s interesting – I wouldn’t have thought they were a big drawing club.
  
  The article says that the A-League and Super 14 clubs fill out the bottom 12 spots, but the A-League clubs are doing much better than the rugby clubs.
  
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  - Sth Auckland First XV said | January 22nd 2010 @ 5:47pm | Report comment
    
    The last place to find true objective sports reporting is the Daily Telegraph. That is a crap paper (or, more accurately, should be used for crap-paper) with no credibility. They use false figures and twist the truth. The league reporters are second rate scribes who don;t seem to have had any training in proper journalism. There have been so many league stories and beat ups in that paper that have never come true. It a girls paper, which I would put in the same category as Women’s Day and New Idea.
    
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    - Robbo said | January 22nd 2010 @ 10:00pm | Report comment
      
      What an objective and rational response. Just because you don’t like it it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Union in Australia is unfortunately in a very bad state – and pretending it is not will just make it worse. I urge all Union fans to do their best to get out to the games, watch it on TV and drag your friends along. If we do that it might make a difference. Pretending Union is going well when it clearly isn’t won’t help at all.
      
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    - Bay35Pablo said | January 23rd 2010 @ 6:24pm | Report comment
      
      SthAuckFirstXV, Robbo is right, you are out of your mind. I would never use the Daily Terror for toliet paper. Not even good enough for that!!!
      
      Reply
- Matt said | February 6th 2010 @ 11:51am | Report comment
  
  Are you kidding? Where do you get your stats from? Look at sponsorship for the sports and rugby is way out in front in sports played in Australia. True most rugby fans would love to see it back on free to air but we know they can’t afford it.
  
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- RedWho? said | February 11th 2010 @ 5:02pm | Report comment
  
  I understand that bottom line is, Foz has rights for another year or 2, then ARU will consider free to air.
  I wrote to ARU and mentioned that NRL are destroying their game (changing the rules every year, usually having to reverse the stupid ones from previous year). It would be a great opportunity for ARU to take on all us disgruntled ex-NRL supporters, but you can’t support a competition that you never see a game of.
  
  It’s not just televising the games either – it’s advertising. Who are the Reds? WIth Broncos, I know where and when they train, I know the places they hang out, I know the ex-players and where they work etc.
  Roar spent a heap of money on advertising – they really forced their name down our throats – everyone in Brisbane knows who the Roar are.
  
  I know *nothing* about the super 14 – I don’t even know who the teams are.
  
  But free to air television is crucial if you want people to start supporting the game.
  
  Seems like a catch 22. Won’t get on tree to air if nobody’s watching, but nobody’s watching coz we can’t see the games.
  
  I’m going to follow the NFL – at least I can see that on One HD.
  
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macavity said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:20am | Report comment

So, your argument is that Rugby should be shown on FTA exactly BECAUSE it is so awfully supported?

Is this upside-down day?

I take it your reasoning is that the Rugby TV rights are so worthless that a digital channel will throw the ARU a few dollars for the rights, while Fox won’t be interested in paying more than a few cents?

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- The Link said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:46am | Report comment
  
  I thought this article was a joke, but perhaps its not? Perverse logic to conclude that because less people are watching a sport that it will break onto a new medium. What’s the business case for this?
  
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- Sth Auckland First XV said | January 22nd 2010 @ 5:52pm | Report comment
  
  Who cares?? At least rugby union is on the TV, which is more than I can say for league outside of Australia. South Africa have nine sports channels. They are in the same time zone as the English Super League, yet league is not shown on any of those 9 sports channels – that says something about the TV drawing power of league – pathetic! Union is capable and has shown in the past that it can rate high, and it will do so again in the future.
  
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  - Dogs Of War said | January 22nd 2010 @ 6:27pm | Report comment
    
    Well the article writer does. In case you have noticed the first line reads “It is quite apparent that rugby in Australia is currently at a very firm down.”
    
    So the article is talking about Rugby Union in Australia. if you don’t care about that, then find another article to comment on.
    
    Reply
  - macavity said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:22pm | Report comment
    
    pathetic as usual.
    
    Reply
Ken said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:39am | Report comment

Well RF, no-one could say that you aren’t a glass half-full type. The theory you’ve put forward is a bit optimistic, mostly because it ignores that Fox requires far more low cost sports content than the FTA channels do. If the current ratings lower the next TV deal to super-low levelsl, it will likely just be Fox saving some money. Even if your scenario did come to fruition, if they’ve bought ‘filler’ then it’s likely to be broadcast sometime between midnight and midday rather than primetime.

Realistically, the more obvious way of Super Rugby gaining interest from the FTA channels is to increase its ratings on Foxtel. Both Rugby and PayTV appeal, according to those wacky demographic marketeers, to those of above average affluence. If they can’t draw reasonable ratings there, the FTA channels aren’t going to want to touch them with a ten foot pole

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Brett McKay said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:47am | Report comment

this is certainly an interesting, and somewhat unexpected, angle to getting rugby a bigger FTA footprint…

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LT80 said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:49am | Report comment

The descent into obscurity could in fact be the saviour of rugby union?

Champagne comedy, RF! You gotta look on the bright side!

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- Foxy Loxy said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:46am | Report comment
  
  Maybe they can put the Super 14s on instead of the Shute Shield on Saturdays?
  
  You would have thought there was a big free to air interest in 1995 for Super 12 games. But Super 12 was a specifically made for pay television product, thanks to David Moffett when he was running the NZRU.
  
  RU has repead what it has sown in Australia. Because only the Wallabies are on free to air, the code has dropped off the radar. The Shute Shield hardly fills the hole.
  
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  - Dave said | January 23rd 2010 @ 4:49pm | Report comment
    
    What other rugby union games were on free to air in Australia apart from the Wallabies in the past ?
    
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  - Bay35Pablo said | January 23rd 2010 @ 6:26pm | Report comment
    
    Foxy, the ARU is reaping letting Seven not show FTA back in 1996 on, when Seven was too busy showing AFL. If they had insisted on Seven using the rights they had bought with the Tests, they might have built some exposure and audience share then.
    
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keeper11 said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:28am | Report comment

The TV stats article trumpets appered in the Tele…

another propoganda piece for their beloved NRL ..

Guess they will use this as proof to ram 20 pages of league a day down in the new season…says it all

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- Foxy Loxy said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment
  
  How? That table shows that NRL and AFL are equal. So we should expect the Melbourne & Sydney media to split their coverage 50/50 between AFL and NRL. Of course, we know that won’t happen as both states are just as biased against each other’s code.
  
  And for what it’s worth, I have no idea what Rugbyfuture was trying to argue in this story. It just gave me a headache.
  
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  - M1tch said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:47am | Report comment
    
    Well you see, anything that says Rugby League is going okay, really upsets some people, they cant accept it
    keeper’s post is laughable when AFL beats the NRL over-all.
    
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- Dirk said | January 22nd 2010 @ 4:45pm | Report comment
  
  20 pages of league a day.. Bring it on
  
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Siva Samoa said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:46am | Report comment

The NRL and AFL are equal in what ? Not TV ratings .

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- Foxy Loxy said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:50am | Report comment
  
  Oh dear. You back again. How are the RU ratings going?
  
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- Jay said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:02am | Report comment
  
  mate – focus on your own backyard.
  
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- Sam el Perro said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:14am | Report comment
  
  Just to go back onto the actual topic here,which is the parlous state of Australian rugby union (as demonstrated in the You Tube footage of the Gold Coast 7s which you claim as “very popular”… if a handful of people at a suburban park is defined as “very popular” in the rugby community, then rugbyfuture’s thesis that union is at a deep low is deomonstrably correct), whatever equality or otherwise that there may be between league and Aussie rules, union is sadly a long way off the pace at the moment.
  
  Whether being unpopular in the community will lead to broader exposure through broadcasts, a curious argument, will be seen when SANZAR signs the next broadcast agreement.
  
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  - Siva Samoa said | January 22nd 2010 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
    
    have you actually been to any of the gold coast sevens through the years ? it was very popular last year compared to other years. what does this have to do with australian rugby ? i said there were a few international teams in last years tournament and you post a link from 2008 GC 7′s.
    Would you want me to post the international teams that participate last year including the fijian and australian national teams playing under a different names ?
    the gold coast organisers are thinking of moving the tournament to robina in the near future and maybe bring the irb leg as well.
    
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    - Jim Wilson said | January 22nd 2010 @ 5:12pm | Report comment
      
      Speaking of Gold Coast Union – what venue got the lowest crowd in the now defunct ARC?
      
      http://www.austadiums.com/sport/event.php?eventid=6787
      »ARC: Aces d Vikings
      
      East Coast Aces 35
      Tries: Ben Mowan, Marshall Milroy, Sam Batty, Brett Stapleton
      Conversions: Andrew Walker 3/4
      Penalties: Andrew Walker 3/4
      
      Canberra Vikings 34
      Tries: Matt Carraro, Francis Fainifo, Peter Kimlin, Anthony Faingaa
      Conversions: Matt Carraro 4/4
      Penalties: 2/3
      
      Crowd: 784 (4% of current capacity)
      
      Date: Sunday 2nd September 2007, 04:00 PM
      Venue: Carrara Stadium
      Web: http://www.rugby.com.au
      
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- Corey said | January 25th 2010 @ 9:44am | Report comment
  
  You’re right League beats AFL there.
  
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Redb said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:54am | Report comment

Your concept is that as rugby on TV has declined in ratings it can be bought by free to air more cheaply.

Rugby is not basketball back in the day when it was a new but untried sports product for TV. It’s unfortunate track record is fall on FTA and then Pay TV, I’m sure the TV execs aren’t that absentminded.

If the goal is get onto ONEHD or other digital channels then that will apply to many sports – if the game is sold for a song then how it will put funds into further development?

The best path is build from Pay TV to FTA with a product that attracts viewers and has further potential. First step is to rebuild the pay TV audience to increase its relative value, not talk it down.

Redb

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keeper11 said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:14am | Report comment

Guess people read the Tele because they can’t think for themeselves and already know what they want to be told…..

Every spin and half-truth that comes out of that rag always follows the same agenda ‘code-war’ driven news-limited message from Sydney HQ :

League..it is not a unseccessful national code, an irrelevant international sport with mediocre crowds ..
instead our propoganda and spin will ‘prove’ it is the greatest , most popular and succedful code of all.

AFL- its is not really the countrys most successful national sport.
it is a victorian game dislked by league loving sydneysiders.

soccer- Despite the socceroos are now argubly the nations premier footbal national team, a new develping national comp and is by far the most lucrative and played code of all….
sockah is marginal except every 4 years

rugby= “rubbish, boring”

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Mungoballer said | January 22nd 2010 @ 9:17am | Report comment

Rugby will be fine. We had a bad couple of years but I can see things improving in the future. Lets not forget Australian rugby has been in far worse situations in the past and have recovered. We’ve also had great periods like late 90s and early 2000s. Rugby is now and olympic sport the world cup is only a eyar away and it’s in our backyard. Rugby is expanding rapidly around the world unlike poor Mungoball. so the future for rugby is looking good.
I wouldn’t worry too much about tv numbers and FTA coverage. I am sure most of the super 15 games will still be shown on Foxtel however I do have O’Neill will negotiate something with FTA tv so we get at least a couple of dealyed games on FTA tv.

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- Bay35Pablo said | January 23rd 2010 @ 6:29pm | Report comment
  
  Agreed, we are in a trough, we will come out of it. Usual manic-depressive cycle of fans and media.
  
  I expect 2011 and the new S15 will give it a kick, and I am excited about the conference system and the Rebels coming in.
  
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  - Realist said | January 26th 2010 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
    
    “I expect 2011 and the new S15 will give it a kick, and I am excited about the conference system and the Rebels coming in” — Bay35Pablo
    
    Bay35Pablo,
    
    The introduction of the Super 14 and 2007 World Cup didn’t give rugby union the ‘kick’ it needed back then, did it?
    
    ” Rugby is expanding rapidly around the world unlike poor Mungoball.” — Mungoballer
    
    Mungoballer,
    
    I guess that’s why rugby leauge has experienced more growth around the world over the last 10 or so years than it has during its entire history!
    
    Seriously mate, your emotions don’t trump facts.
    
    Reply