Outfoxing Fox: formula to A-League success
Roar Pro By Michael Turner, 2 Sep 2010 Michael Turner is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- A-League, A-League crowds, FFA, football, Football Federation Australia, Fox Sports, Foxtel, free to air coverage
133 Have your say
Central Coast Mariners players (L to R) Tom Pendeljak, Matthew Simon and John Hutchinson sit dejected after loosing 0-1 to the Newcastle Jets in the A-League Grand Final in Sydney on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2008. AAP Image/Paul Miller
I am currently finding myself in a big and dire predicament. I am one of many Australians that deem Pay TV a very pointless investment. Of course, this limits what I can view on my television. But there is one main pitfall. Sports.
As I have previously stated in one of my previous posts, the FFA needs to embrace the youngsters in order to improve the interest in the competition, and to breed new players. A-League on Fox Sports is a major hindrance to progress.
When the major television deal was struck before the first season, the FFA essentially signed a cap on competition interest. It was a stupid and inevitably thwarting move. They need a free-to-air deal struck. And they need it sooner rather than later.
If you still don’t understand why Pay TV is an impediment, just look at statistics. 8 per cent of Australian households have access to Foxtel in their homes (1.63 million), and the other 92 per cent only have free-to-air access. This isn’t just a choice however; it is often the harsh reality. Not all homes can get Foxtel coverage, and some cannot afford this investment. The catchment of the competition would be far larger if it were televised free-to-air.
As I have previously stated on other posts, the FFA need to connect more with the community, and another way to do this is through free-to-air broadcasting. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s a simple concept.
Someone notices a match or team on television, possibly giving them impetus to attend a match live. Advertisement of matches would be more effective on free-to-air. It will reach almost 20 million more people!
I never find out a match is on until I bother trolling through the internet. Imagine being a sporting bystander. You may not even know the competition is underway!
Increase of catchment means increase of interest, which means increase in attendances.
It’s a formula that the FFA have missed, and the public have been yearning for.
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September 2nd 2010 @ 9:29am
Scamp said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:29am | Report comment
The reality is FTA would not pay money to screen A-League. I still doubt they would even now.
SBS said they would do some A-League, but the FFA would have to pay them to do it. That is the reality of the situation.
BTW, no articles on Newcastle perhaps going under?
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:51am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:51am | Report comment
Scamp
If you are going to make comments about “the reality of the situation” would you be so kind as to provide links to the evidence of this reality.
Of course, you may have meant to actually say “in my opinion”?
I’m trying to understand your closing comment – is it a statement or fact; an observation; a question to the world at large, for which you require an answer; or, simply a rhetorical question?
September 2nd 2010 @ 10:21am
Melanie Dinjaski said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:21am | Report comment
It’s a sad thing isn’t it! When they can’t afford to pay players (and let’s face it, they don’t get paid THAT much), you know you have a serious problem! I would have liked to see this issue covered in this topic, but maybe you can give it a go Scamp?
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:18am
mds1970 said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:18am | Report comment
It may be too early to write Newcastle’s euglogy yet; although the financial state of A-League clubs is a concern.
I’ve got a half-finished draft on my computer, tentitavely titled “Is the A-League living beyond its means?” – but a combination of procrastination and trying to research a few numbers to justify my sweeping statements has resulted in the draft not yet being ready to submit….
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:30am
Art Sapphire said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:30am | Report comment
mds1970 – A-League clubs are currently operating without a decent TV rights dividend. The FFA are holding out on a new deal and much needed cash for the clubs because of the December bid decision as they believe the value of their product will increase if the 2022 bid is successful. In the meantime, its just a matter of biding time and surviving.
Thesis complete.
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:44am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:44am | Report comment
mds
Do you have any qualifications and/or experience in financial analysis of sports organisations … or any commercial enterprises?
If not, with all due respect, it’s best to leave financial analysis of a business to experts.
If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from the GFC is that financial analysis is a complex exercise that relies heavily on:
a) access to factual and accurate numbers; and
b) expertise in crunching the numbers (usually will require some form of finance qualification or, at least, proven experience in the field); and
c) independence and objectivity to perform the task “without fear or favour”
Given that all the HAL clubs are private companies I’d be surprised if you have access to their Annual Financial Reports, which is the most basic reference to commence the financial analysis of a company.
Interestingly, after expert auditors actually analysed the financial records of AFL clubs, the Auditors have specifically stated they have concerns about the ability of several AFL “to continue as a going concern” and pay their debts.
Given the higher profile of these non-HAL clubs and the fact their auditors have actually issued a warning (which is pretty rare from my observations!), perhaps, you’d be better writing an article: “some AFL clubs ARE living beyond their means”?
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:08pm
Axel V said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:08pm | Report comment
you don’t need qualifications to have a valid opinion
you often have people without qualifications who are better and know more than the people who do have qualifications
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:23pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
Axel V
I have yet to hear intelligent analysis or opinion ever provided by a person, who doesn’t have a deep technical knowledge of the subject matter (be it rocket science, medical science, music, art, plumbing or building a house).
I certainly don’t listen to medical advice offered by my car mechanic and I certainly don’t listen to automobile advice offered by my medical practitioner!
But, hey … perhaps, that’s just I, who is being overly cautious and fussy?
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:41pm
Axel V said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
actually, when it comes to medical advice, doctors are commonly wrong.
The patient has been living with their body their whole life, no-one knows their body like the patient does. Some Doctor’s do not listen to the patient at all, and do not take into account anything that they have said, and give a completely wrong and useless diagnosis. Often making mistakes that the patient was right about in the first place. You don’t need to know the biomolecular structures of every cell to have a little bit of common sense.
I took medical advice from a furniture salesman, because he had the exact same condition as me and it turned out that the doctor was wrong
September 2nd 2010 @ 2:23pm
General Ashnak said | September 2nd 2010 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
I think you are trying to say Axel V that in 1 incidnet amongst 10s of thousands every day in Australia a doctor had the wrong advice. That is not common, that is an exception. Scare mongering about the ability of a group of professionals that have received years of training in order to do their job is wrong. You should always remember that if you are un happy with the advice received by your doctor to go and seek a second opinion.
September 2nd 2010 @ 6:36pm
Black Diamonds said | September 2nd 2010 @ 6:36pm | Report comment
Its a good point you raise concerning AFL clubs, however, you’re clearly glossing over a couple of very important facts.
1. The AFL clubs have large membership bases they can draw upon in times of need to raise potentially millions of dollars. This has been witnessed time and time again through history (As, for that matter, it has in England in regards to various Football Clubs in the Auld Dart). In the last 20 years clubs to have gone down this route include North Melbourne, Richmond, Melbourne, Carlton, Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn and St. Kilda) So what? The proof is that when these clubs are threatened they can turn to their members (Their owners) to bail them out.
When a privately run club runs into trouble, it can’t turn to its members in the same way – it usually requires a new owner to step in and provide a heap of cash up front.
2. You may or may not have noticed – the AFL has far more money available than the A-League.
September 2nd 2010 @ 7:14pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:14pm | Report comment
Black Diamonds
You’re kidding right?
The Richmond “Save our Skins” rally and the similar Footscray rally during the late 80s was “amateur hour” based on literally rattling tins – not some sort of “Wall St” equity raising!
It’s the sort of thing that can be done once in a lifetime.
Only recently the myth about the AFL clubs “bloated memberships” was exposed in the print media, when it was reported that 30% of Collingwood’s “record 57k+ members” were actually only “3-game members”, which costs around $75!
You’re living in financial fantasy land if you think members providing $75 per annum can be relied upon to inject significant equity into a failing business!
If I need cash for my business I’ll certainly rather have one billionaire shareholder than 15,000 “shareholders”, who can only afford to inject $75 capital per annum!
Source: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/collingwoods-secret-weapon-to-sign-100000-members/story-e6freck3-1225909615748
September 2nd 2010 @ 7:18pm
Mister Football said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
Yes, the Footscray efforts probably were amateur hour – the people and the community saved them, as you say, partly by rattling 100s of tins – we are but simple folk.
But my response to that is: so what? isn’t that something to look back on with pride? would you prefer it be left in the hands of one millionaire?
September 2nd 2010 @ 7:38pm
beaver fever said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:38pm | Report comment
ASS usual, imflammatory garbage, Collingwood may have quite a lot of 3 game members, but they also have 17 game members etc, 3 game meberships work on many levels.
I would be interested in a 3 game Freo membership, mainly because of other commitments.
Pull your head in, the whole story needs to be told, you cannot tell it.
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:37pm
jimbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:37pm | Report comment
If you buy a ticket to an AFL game 2 weeks in a row you are counted as an AFL “member”.
In fact, you don’t even have to buy 2 tickets, because in Sydney you can easily get at least one of them for free.
September 3rd 2010 @ 9:37am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 3rd 2010 @ 9:37am | Report comment
MF
If you are running a local sports or social club, “rattling tins” is a legitimate revenue raising initiative.
But, if you are running a multi-million dollar business and your Finance Director suggests “let’s rattle tins to raise capital” … I reckon, you’ve run out of ideas and you can expect your bank manager (and/or the repo man) to be knocking on your door!
PS: A bit of free advice for potential investors in the stock market .. if you ever notice a company is “rattling tins” to raise capital, don’t wait for your stockbroker to publish his latest newsletter … just dump the stock – perhaps, target buyers, who are wearing AFL jumpers
September 3rd 2010 @ 9:53am
Mister Football said | September 3rd 2010 @ 9:53am | Report comment
We get back to the community argument bf was making.
Footscray has been able to turn to its community on at least two occasions (1989 and 1996) to save it from oblivion – and they succeeded.
Can Con turn to the community to save the Jets?
September 3rd 2010 @ 11:13am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 3rd 2010 @ 11:13am | Report comment
The “community factor” is important when sporting clubs are minor enterprises, and AFL would not be considered “minor enterprises” any more.
Clubs operating in major competitions have huge costs and require significant revenue to remain liquid and significant capital to develop and expand.
If you think Footscray’s survival is guaranteed b/c it can rely on 30-40k season ticket holders (and, I’m exaggerating the number significantly) you need to do more research into the cost of running an AFL club.
Simply, a modern sporting club is living in “fantasy land” if it thinks it can survive by calling on the largesse of its supporters/season ticket holders.
E.g. in the 2009 Annual Report, AFL Club Collingwood’s Expenses (excluding expenses from its gambling operations) were approx $36m
So, to simply cover Collingwood’s annual “football-related bills” would require 180k full-season ticket holders (assume a season ticket cots $200 per annum) or …
… a lot of people rattling a lot of tins!
Source: http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/portals/0/magpies_docs/2009_annual_report_cfc.pdf
September 3rd 2010 @ 11:27am
Mister Football said | September 3rd 2010 @ 11:27am | Report comment
I’m not too sure where you’re heading with this argument.
You’re referring to Collingwood, the biggest footbal club in Australia, they would earn at least $10 mill per annum from their membership sales (which are now over 50,000) – I doubt anyone else on this forum would view $10 mill as insignificant.
Either way, every soccer poster on this forum rabbits on endlessly about engaging with the community – you must be the first soccer fan to come on here and poo poo that idea.
Also, look beyond the top 10 or so Premier League clubs, and all other English professional football clubs have very strong community links.
September 3rd 2010 @ 11:50am
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 3rd 2010 @ 11:50am | Report comment
MF
Community links are important but:
1. Strong communty links will not ensure financial survival;
2. Weak community links will not necessarily lead to financial failure
The Essendon Football Club’s “involvement” with the community of Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, East Keilor & Avondale Heights, etc. is not as strong as it used to be. There are probably (based purely on the change of population demographics) more Essendon supporters, who live outside the traditional “Essendon community”, yet the club has never been financially stronger.
Similarly, Collingwood FC’s involvement in the Collingwood area would not be as strong as it was pre-1980; yet the club is financially very strong.
By contrast, Port Adelaide FC is reknowned for having an extremely strong bond with its community, yet the club is on the brink of insovency!
To repeat … season ticket holders cannot prop up a sporting club’s finances. Do you honestly think the new Gold Coast AFL club is relying on the revenue of 8-10k season ticket holders for its survival?!!
September 3rd 2010 @ 11:52am
Mister Football said | September 3rd 2010 @ 11:52am | Report comment
The new GC club will be relying on 12k+ memberships for a healthy start to its existence.
September 3rd 2010 @ 12:20pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 3rd 2010 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
Can you be sure of Suns getting 12k+ season ticket holders?
Apparently they signed 8k season ticket holders this year which prima facie sounds impressive ….
… but, on closer inspection, the cost of a season ticket in 2010 was $45 for adults & $25 for kids!
Let’s see how quickly the fans sign on when the Season Ticket price jumps 300-400%?
Source: http://goldcoastfc.com.au/membership/inaugural-membership/
September 3rd 2010 @ 12:26pm
Mister Football said | September 3rd 2010 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
8,000 members for a second tier football comp (the VFL) IS impressive, very impressive – make no mistake – it is very impressive.
The cost of membership for the old VFA clubs was always cheap, always – I doubt any of them ever got anywhere near 8,000 members – and that includes the bigger clubs like Port and Willy.
September 3rd 2010 @ 5:13pm
Qlder said | September 3rd 2010 @ 5:13pm | Report comment
Wouldn’t the Victory like to have 57000 members of any sort? Get real
September 3rd 2010 @ 5:20pm
beaver fever said | September 3rd 2010 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
To Fussball,
You must spend hours trawling through AFL club annual reports, such is your knowledge of who has what and where etc, and yet you profess to dislike the game, in fact you wont even admit that our indigenous Australian football code is actually football. .. sad!!.
BTW GC17 now has over 9,000 members i dare say MF is right and they will have around 12,000 members in their first real season, most sports fans would say good on em, but all i hear from you is sniping.
You are not really a sports fan are you ??.
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:37am
albatross said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:37am | Report comment
Foxtel’s investment in football goes beyond just the contract payment. It is a huge logistical effort for them to get cameras, crews and commentators to every game all across our sea girt land. Plus Match Day Saturday, Fox Sports FC and Football Superstar and all the internationals.
Overnight Apple announced a new set top box on demand pay per episode service using the Itunes model but for TV shows.
This is going to put an even bigger hole into FTA revenues going forward and make them less relevant anyway.. Foxtel already have the rights sewn up for many codes one way or the other. Like Murdoch or not football has to stay with Foxtel.
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:39am
Tadpohle said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:39am | Report comment
I don’t hear anybody that has Fox complaining about the excellent coverage of every game. I don’t care about the politics of this crap ,it is on TV and I get to see every game live.
To get onto Free to air tv the ffa would have to break down the allegiances and current financial viability of the tv channel and that is not on.
The only way to get free tv is for Football to outgrow all the other codes and make the tv channels chase our dollars. It won’t happen soon as long as we have idiots like palmer and con in control of purse strings and limiting the leagues growth.
The cost of fox is only two tickets to a Gold Coast united game ????, watch every game Live on tv or go to two GCU home games, that is a no brainer.
Pommie land and Yankee land have all sports live and you still can’t get tickets for teams home games because they are sold out threee years in advance in a lot of cases.
The only problem with fox is having to listen to commentators that would rather be somewhere else on some occassions, get bored and cackle between themselves at their in jokes or prattle away while they read excerpts they have found on the internet blah,blah blah..
EVERY GAME LIVE , don’t knock it …get it.
Got to go now I have eight games of the EPL to watch from last weekend …all live.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:20pm
BrisbaneGrowl said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
Tadpohle, how are you watching last weekend’s EPL games live?
Last I heard Foxtel doesn’t come with a time machine…
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:44am
FKCZ said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:44am | Report comment
We want people going to the grounds to watch matches not sitting infront of the TV whether it’s on free-to-air or pay TV. If you want to know when the games are on how about downloading the fixture from the A-league website. If you can write a blog you should be able to do that.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:13pm
Axel V said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
The problem with the A-League crowds is that there is lack of advertising, most people don’t even know it’s on, and they wouldn’t go out of their way to find out. How can people be interested in a match that they don’t know is even happening?
I know that the commonwealth games are coming up, the AFL finals are coming up, Mark Webber is leading the F1 Championship, the bundesliga and serie A have started, because of advertising, and i havn’t googled a single on of these or watched a match
Most people don’t know that the A-League is happening
September 2nd 2010 @ 1:25pm
Stefan said | September 2nd 2010 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
Word of mouth is a very powerful tool. Tell your friends, workmates, etc when the games are on. I’ve already coaxed my die-hard AFL workmates to come to the Melbourne Derby.
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:46am
Australian Football said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Michael T,
I am one person, who does not have Fox TV and most likely never will because of the cost. Not that I need it, as I get my Football fix from SBS with its plethora of European Football. However, I love the HAL and stay in touch with it on the internet’s various websites. This year I plan to attend every home match of the Gold Coast United’s second season program, as I did with its first season (with cap or no cap).
Fox TV has been very important to the very existence of Australian Football and without them the Australian Football A-League would not exist. Unfortunately at the beginning of the negotiations it was clearly underestimated how popular it would be and Fox TV seemed to hold all the cards.
Let’s hope that the next Fox TV deal has an hour FTA highlights and analysis package attached to it that covers “only HAL” Football matches, (similar to the old English match-of-the-day with Brian Moore) to be shown at a reasonable night time viewing for the Aussie kids on Monday nights 8pm. For me, this was the component that was missing, which prevent the HAL from gaining real traction.
_______
AF
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:59am
Lu said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Totally no understanding of what Fox has done for club football in Australia or how the FTA channels operate.
What FTA commercial network exposure are you talking about?
Which channel would show any A-league games live?
And if so, would they commit resources needed to cover even 1 or 2 games live per week? Cameramen, tech support, commentators?
Why do you think it is not on the governments Anti-siphoning list? Cause no one wanted it.
Lets look at some of the more popular sports and how the FTA channels treat them. Channel 9 bury their flagship NRL coverage deep in the night for Vic/southern state viewers. AFL hardly get a showing in the northern states. Channel 7 flat out refuses to show live AFL games because they’ll lose money from not showing better homes and gardens and can’t insert truckloads of advertisments. All this after the FTA throws hundreds of millions of dollars to the leagues. imagine what they’d do to football?
SBS would possibly show 1 game on a sunday afternoon and thats about it. And don’t get me wrong, SBS has been great, but they would have never pumped that much money into football. Any money they spent on the WC rights goes direct to Fifa. Their major football show TWG has been hidden away on there 2nd digital channel or pushed back to 11.30 on a monday night. Is this the kind of exposure you’re talking about?
Granted now with One HD there maybe a good platform, but i don’t see One HD paying over the odds to secure the TV rights..
FFA got approx $120M over 5 years for the A-league and Socceroos qualifing games from Fox. This is incredible money, particularly to a sport that was shut down for over 12 months and restart again. How much was it a gamble? And this money has help prop up this league to this day.
I applaud Fox for showing the commintment to Australian football unseen of by any of the FTA channels.
September 2nd 2010 @ 7:31pm
Boris the Mudcrab said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:31pm | Report comment
Someone finally making sense!
Fox saved/is the reason the A League is in existance.
FTA has little/no interest in the A League. Simple as that (Maybe SBS) They might have to do what Rugby Union does and PAY for free to air coverage with the ABC if there is any money in the tin
The League has so many problems that if anything the next lot of rights may be same/ less than the last one.
Newcastle has questions on its long term viability
Gold Coast cant break 5k in crowd numbers
Finally, the comp is heading towards a carbon copy of the Scottish League – A 2 team competition each year
All this, and the massive free plug for the game, The World Cup was only held a month or so ago
Im not death riding the game as I was a regular at the old Wollongong Wolves games in their hay-day, but lets look at things without rosy coloured glasses
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:51pm
Art Sapphire said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:51pm | Report comment
Correction Lu – 7 years. That’s a big difference.
September 2nd 2010 @ 10:12am
Melanie Dinjaski said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:12am | Report comment
YES YES YES YES YES. Michael, I was looking to write an article on exactly the same lines. You’re point of view is one felt by MANY.
Soccer (football to the purists) becomes the number one topic in the naiton, during the world cup. Why? Because it’s on free tv, and those who do not have pay tv, finally get to to see the talent of their countrymen playing on behalf of Australia!
The A League will continue to come second to union, league and AFL until they address this. If the FFA has real intentions of building the profile of the game in Australia they need the A League on free tv. I’m loving the Bundesliga and Serie A on ONE, but nothing beats being able to follow the progress of Australia’s own talent, and hell, maybe even support your state/city’s team!
But most won’t go to the game until they see what their team is like. I mean most wouldn’t fork out their hard-earned to go see a band unless they know the band’s music right?
September 2nd 2010 @ 10:54am
Whites said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
A-League Ratings(PayTV 5 city ratings)
Week32
17 Live: Football: A-League Melb H V C Cst Fox Sports 3 53,000
40 Live: Football: A-League Sydney V Mel V Fox Sports 3 32,000
43 Live: Football: A-League Perth V Nth Qld Fox Sports 1 31,000
57 Live: Football: A-League Ade V New Fox Sports 1 25,000
Week33
30 Live: Football: A-League Melb V V Perth Fox Sports 3 33,000
33 Live: Football: A-League Well V G Coast Fox Sports 3 32,000
69 Live: Football: A-League New V Mel H Fox Sports 3 24,000
Week34
58 Live: Football: A-League Adel V Melb H Fox Sports 1 25,000
Week35
1 Live: NRL Knights V Dragons Fox Sports 2 192,000
2 Live: NRL Roosters V Titans Fox Sports 2 191,000
3 Live: NRL Sharks V Titans Fox Sports 2 149,000
4 Live: AFL Adelaide V St Kilda Fox Sports 1 123,000
5 Live: AFL Geelong V West Coast Fox Sports 1 120,000
6 Live: AFL Brisbane Lions V Sydney Fox Sports 1 103,000
7 Live: AFL: On The Couch Fox Sports 1 98,000
8 Live: AFL West Coast V Nth Melbourne Fox Sports 1 98,000
9 Australian Agenda: The Verdict Sky News 97,000
10 Live: NRL Raiders V Dragons Fox Sports 2 87,000
17 Live: Football: Epl Blackburn V Arsenal Fox Sports 3 48,000
33 Live: Football: Epl Newcastle V A Villa Fox Sports 3 36,000
61 Live: Football: A-League Syd V C Coast Fox Sports 3 28,000
74 Live: Football: Epl Chelsea V Stoke Fox Sports 3 25,000
97 Football: Epl Arsenal V Blackpool Fox Sports 3 22,000
All missing A-League games had less than 20,000 viewers and were out of the top100 on PayTV.
September 2nd 2010 @ 10:58am
M1tch said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:58am | Report comment
is that through astra.org
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:20pm
Whites said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
tvtonight.com.au
It has the top 100 PayTV Sun-Sat each week.
astra.org only have the top 10 sports now.
I watched many of these games. My point is that FoxSports would clearly prefer the A-League rate higher then re-runs of The Simpsons or movies on Fox Classics. The ratings will pick up over summer but only to 35k-45k. This is only the 5 city ratings. Including regional ratings some NRL games have over 300k viewers.
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:23am
Art Sapphire said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:23am | Report comment
Whites – raw data is not much use without some analysis.
Foxtel pays $63 million a year to show 88 games of AFL – 4 games a week.
Fox Sports pays the NRL $42 million a year for five games a week.
Foxtel pays $16 million a years. For this they get to cover all 150 A-League games plus finals and Socceroos games (who’s rating were not included in your list)
The compare how many pages of AFL, NRL and A-League gets in the mainstream media.
Come back to here after work out which one has provided better value to Fox Sports.
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:35am
The Link said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:35am | Report comment
Easy, the NRL does. Its a ratings juggernaught on Pay TV for $20m less a year than AFL, who struggle to get a game in the top 5 shows each week.
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:46am
Art Sapphire said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:46am | Report comment
I’d also point out that the A-League ratings will go up after the NRL and AFL seasons are over.
In August sports fans had to choose between one of the three as many of the games were being shown concurrently.
This is why the A-League Melb H V C Cst 53,000 rated better because it had no competition as it was a Thursday night game.
September 2nd 2010 @ 9:43pm
jimbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:43pm | Report comment
The two highest rating sports programs on pay TV are football matches involving the Socceroos.
Australian football isn’t just the A-League.
None the less, the A-League grand final was shown live in over 100 countries around the world on Pay TV to an audience of over 30 million people.
September 3rd 2010 @ 10:13pm
Whites said | September 3rd 2010 @ 10:13pm | Report comment
These are the ratings for this years Grand Final(5 city metro + regional)
3 Live: Football: A-League Grand Final FOX Sports 3 176,000
The portion of the game that was extra time and the penalty shootout was
1 Live: Football: A-League Post Game Show FOX Sports 3 272,000
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ASTRA-Ratings-for-Week-100314.pdf
Where did you get the 30million worldwide figure from?
I watched the game but at the same time 2 NRL games that overlapped with the GF had higher ratings.
September 4th 2010 @ 12:30am
jimbo said | September 4th 2010 @ 12:30am | Report comment
Whites,
http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=33055
http://www.knowfirst.info/forums/showthread.php?t=27815
Uzbekistan? which beat the previous Pay TV record of Socceroos v Japan in the 2007 Asian Cup.
Don’t underestimate the popularity of football in this country [and around the world].
September 2nd 2010 @ 11:38am
Gibbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:38am | Report comment
i hate to nit pik, but:
“8 per cent of Australian households have access to Foxtel in their homes (1.63 million)”
Fair enough, i’ll buy that stat, but:
“the other 92 per cent only have free-to-air”
are you seriously suggesting that the television has achieved a 100% saturation, reaching the entire population!?!?!
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:11pm
Michael Turner said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Only has access to free-to-air.
Almost everyone in Australia can reach a free-to-air transmission according to a recent survey done by The Age (2009).
This includes one signal per 10 households in an area.
So for example, a rural community, one household in a street of 10 has FTA access, that is considered “access” to free to air.
A weird statistic yes, however according to the way the survey is conducted, it is correct.
And to raise my previous point that people seem to miss, I stated 8% have Foxtel access, not PayTV access. 34% have PayTV, only 8% have Foxtel.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:26pm
Gibbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
and a tip of the hat to you sir.
well played.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:32pm
Michael Turner said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
I try my best. I have a tenancy to write controversial articles about controversial topics if you have read my previous topics.
I enjoy seeing people’s opinions.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:35pm
Brendo51 said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Michael
Can you quote your source on that. It seems low for Foxtel
In terms of 34% for PayTV, any stats on what precentage of that have access to Foxsports?
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:49pm
Michael Turner said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:49pm | Report comment
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/foxtel-has-doubledigit-earnings-growth-20100812-120lq.html
This article is from the Herald, not the Age, my apologies and it is from 2010, very recent. I had it mixed up with another article I was working on.
And a correction I have just realized: 1.63 Million households, however this includes wholesales (showrooms, Pubs etc) and not 1.63 million people. Still this leaves a large amount of people without access to Foxtel due to my quoted reasons, financial, out of subscriber zone etc.
However along with this, only 2.8% of the population has access to FoxSports Network (including Fuel TV and FoxSports News)
http://www.oztam.com.au/documents/2008/A2_20080413.pdf
The 34% quote was used by another commenter, and I am not totally sure on the credibility of this.
September 2nd 2010 @ 3:33pm
Whites said | September 2nd 2010 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
http://astra.org.au/pages/stv-in-australia
Population: 21.9 million
Median age: 37
Occupied dwellings: 8+ million
People per dwelling: 2.65
Household television ownership: 98% of the population
Subscription TV subscribers: 34% of the population
A minimum 15% of the population would have access to Fox Sports in their own home.
September 2nd 2010 @ 7:08pm
Michael Turner said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:08pm | Report comment
2.8 % of the households in Australia have access to Fox Sports. This includes Austar and Optus Suscriber services
September 4th 2010 @ 12:21pm
Whites said | September 4th 2010 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
http://www.oztam.com.au/documents/2008/A2_20080413.pdf
This link shows the average ratings of each channel between 6am and midnight over 7 days. It doesn’t say anything about how many people have access to each channel. Your interpretation implies that only 20% of the population have access to channel 9.
September 3rd 2010 @ 10:18pm
Whites said | September 3rd 2010 @ 10:18pm | Report comment
“2.8 % of the households in Australia have access to Fox Sports. This includes Austar and Optus Suscriber services”
This is simply not true. That means that less then 10% of households that subscribe to PayTV include Fox Sports in their package.
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:35pm
Cugel said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
“Someone notices a match or team on television, possibly giving them impetus to attend a match live.”
Bit of a stretch, we all know what soccer is. Exclude those who don’t care, and who do care. This leaves people who are/might be interested, but not quite interested enough to do a simple google for info. Is that much of a market?
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:46pm
BigAl said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
This would apply to pretty much everything shown/advertised on TV surely ?e
September 2nd 2010 @ 12:48pm
Gibbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
yeah crugel’s arguement is precisly why they stopped advertising cocacola and mcdonalds. everyone knows what it is except for those who dont care. they dont need to put their adds on tv anymore
September 2nd 2010 @ 1:16pm
Pete said | September 2nd 2010 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
But surely there are the people who know about the A-league, but aren’t convinced that the standard is actually decent nowadays, so they don’t even look for it. FTA exposure would allow them to have a better look.
Besides, there are always new consumers to entice, be they kids or yet-to-be realised sports fans, which is precisely the reason Coca-cola and McDonalds DO still advertise.
September 2nd 2010 @ 1:12pm
Cugel said | September 2nd 2010 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
Substitute say opera for soccer, or even AFL/NRL depending on your mindset/location.