Big A-League audience a boost for TV deal
Departing Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley will be hoping record A-League attendance and broadcast figures translate into big bucks at the television rights negotiation table.
Buckley, who will be replaced by former NRL boss David Gallop next month, was beaming on Monday when he announced the domestic television audience for round one which finished on Sunday increased by 53 per cent on last season’s average of 65,000 viewers per round to over 100,000 viewers.
On top of that, the 93,800 fans at five stadiums during the opening week beat the single-round record of 87,000 achieved in round three last season.
Rival football codes the AFL and NRL have announced record $1 billion-plus media deals over the past six months, and the pressure is on the FFA to boost their TV ratings to add cash to their game.
With one year remaining on the current media deal, Buckley is in the midst of negotiating a new broadcast contract before his departure in November.
The A-League has arguably been hamstrung by a pay-TV rights deal sold relatively cheaply in 2005 for an estimated $125 million over seven years when the competition was born.
It is thought a new five-year deal worth over $40 million per season will leave the game in decent shape and a free-to-air TV deal will be crucial in the new broadcast structure.
The weekend’s record crowd and domestic viewing figures doubtless owe much to the high profile recruitments of Italy’s Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC), England’s Emile Heskey (Newcastle Jets) and Japan’s Shinji Ono (Western Sydney Wanderers) who all made their A-League debuts.
However, the crowd figures were also given a huge boost by the 42,032 who passed through the turnstiles at Etihad Stadium for the Melbourne derby between the Victory and Heart on Friday night.
Buckley also touched on the importance of television to the commercial success of the league when pointing to new audiences overseas.
“The exciting thing is that the game is now going to more corners of the world than ever before,” said Buckley.
“The Sydney FC game (against Wellington Phoenix) being broadcast live into Italy is a wonderful opportunity for us to promote the A-League to players who may want to come here in the future as well as fans.
“So to be broadcast into Japan, into Italy, right throughout Asia, right across the globe is a testament to the credibility the A-League is getting worldwide.”
While it’s still early days in the season and it remains to be seen if the audience boost is lasting, the figures are a welcome boost for the FFA with the Socceroos, whose success is also crucial to the game’s financial health, in a precarious position trying to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
Buckley and the FFA are also still trying to rebound after a disastrous 2022 World Cup bid when they only registered one vote and were convincingly beaten by tiny emirate Qatar.
The failure of A-League franchises Gold Coast United last season and Townsville-based Northern Fury FC in March 2011 also cast doubt on the viability of the national competition, forcing the rushed introduction of Western Sydney Wanderers this season.
© AAP 2013- Explore:
- A-League, Ben Buckley, football
October 9th 2012 @ 3:27am
AV said | October 9th 2012 @ 3:27am | Report comment
I hope that the TV deal delivers. Please be $40 million per year or more!
October 9th 2012 @ 9:02am
Reynoldsinski said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:02am | Report comment
Australia is a strange place at times, where the fans worry about how much money the TV deal will bring. Would there be any other place in the world where the fans even give it a second thought?
October 9th 2012 @ 9:11am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Even the NRL and AFL got into a who’s is bigger TV deal commentary this year as football struggles for respect and partly because we are acutely aware that TV money underpins our competition’s very existence and stability moving into the next 5 year period.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:20am
nordster said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:20am | Report comment
Also we are fairly immature as football fans in general….so tv money or other business, governance issues etc are an easier discussion for our mix of football literate, semi-literate and straight up illiterate audience in oz. It is getting better tho and once this one is signed and done, by the time the next one comes round i think folks will care less.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:39am
Minister for Information for the Democratic People's Republic of Football said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Every code needs the moolah especially us with all our overheads (how many national teams again with both men’s and women’s?). I trust the powers that be to get the best deal possible and not to get shafted. We can’t look like stooges compared to the other codes who get big $$ by employing good shysters who will sell swimsuits to eskimos.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:43am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:43am | Report comment
I wonder if the fans of teams in the English Premiership were ever concerned about their TV rights deal or if it was just assumed that Uncle Rupert would continue to pony up more and more Pounds, Stirling for the world’s most marketable league? Were I a fan of a team that wasn’t in the top4 which would probably survive on gate takings and merch sales for a while independent of the BSkyB money……I’d be concerned that one day the cash cow will cease to deliver the money and what then? A Leeds-like financial meltdown precipitating a slide down the divisions..or worse, following Rangers FC into bankruptcy?
October 9th 2012 @ 12:01pm
AV said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
When the sport is newly trying to establish itself and the financial future depends on the new deal, which fans wouldn’t care?!
October 9th 2012 @ 7:48am
Punter said | October 9th 2012 @ 7:48am | Report comment
The TV deal was supposed to be announced weeks ago, or so it was rumoured, so hopefully all the delay is because they are bidding for a better deal. For all the doom & gloom last year to all the positive news on football lately, football in this country has never been better.
October 9th 2012 @ 8:26am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 8:26am | Report comment
Buckley and the FFA are also still trying to rebound after a disastrous 2022 World Cup bid when they only registered one vote and were convincingly beaten by tiny emirate Qatar.
Jeez, some people will never let this one go will they?
Ratings for HAL2012-13 Week1
Melbourne Victory v Melbourne Heart – 129,000
Western Sydney Wanderers v Central Coast Mariners – 124,000
Western Sydney Wanderers v Central Coast Mariners – 124,000
Perth Glory v Brisbane Roar – 102,000
Newcastle Jets v Adelaide United – 77,000
Average for the round 108,200
The Melbourne Derby is unquestionably now ‘must see’ TV for football fans in Australia and the region. In fact the Melb.Derby on Friday night had a HIGHER attendance than 8 out of the 10 Spanish La Liga games on that weekend.
For WSW to draw a rating near to that fixture on debut as well as playing infront of a healthysized and loud crowd, shows the business sense of FFA in booting GCU and getting the new team off the ground in short order. Time to recognise that the FFA doesn’t get everything wrong.
All in all an excellent weekend of positive news stories for football in Australia.
October 9th 2012 @ 8:40am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 8:40am | Report comment
And this morning in the SMH:
With one year left on the media deal, Buckley is in the midst of negotiating a new broadcast contract before his departure next month.
It is thought a new five-year deal worth more than $40 million a season will leave the game in decent shape, and a free-to-air TV deal will be crucial in the new broadcast structure.
AAP
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/buckley-leaves-on-tvratings-high-20121008-279ag.html#ixzz28k1oWDGF
October 9th 2012 @ 8:54am
Dillan said | October 9th 2012 @ 8:54am | Report comment
Can anyone advise how Foxtel actually get their number of viewers figures for each game..? Is there some electronic feedback from your foxbox when you tune into that channel, or some other method..?
October 9th 2012 @ 9:31am
Ian Whitchurch said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:31am | Report comment
Its statistically sampled, just like all the other ratings.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:04am
nordster said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
And poorly sampled at that…the shares are interesting but the gross figures they put out are guesstimates really…sample sizes are not great.
Youd think in this day and age they could be pulling down a wider range of data from their boxes. Maybe for the next IQ box?
October 9th 2012 @ 11:56am
AV said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:56am | Report comment
Sample sizes are fine and are within a 95% accuracy, as long as the people that are sampled represent the whole of the demographics of each state, not just the 40 year old white male and his family from New South Wales.
October 9th 2012 @ 2:55pm
nordster said | October 9th 2012 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
As a measure of percentage…comparative from one program to another, sure…but as a means of reliably saying how many viewers (total) are actually watching? All tv ratings panels are flawed in their sample sizes, just to varying degrees. No one used to care as advertisers always needed something, as do media. But these days as they become used to more direct data online. Well in theory the iq boxes could be sending back more direct actual data. Downside is the lack of demographics i guess. Which is i am guessing why they prefer the more rigid but flawed ratings panel sample where folks log on each time they watch.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:13pm
Stevo said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:13pm | Report comment
Statistical sampling yes plus I reckon information supplied from set top boxes that send back data about what is being viewed at any time of the day.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:25am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:25am | Report comment
I somehow left off the PayTV rating for the
Wellington Phoenix v Sydney FC game from my ratings comment above – 109,000
October 9th 2012 @ 9:14am
striker said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:14am | Report comment
lets hope the numbers keeping getting higher, the western sydney game out rated sydney FC game even with del piero it shows that this was the best move FFA have done in years to put them in.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:26am
Minister for Information for the Democratic People's Rebublic of Football said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
WSW will definately keep on getting bigger with every round. Let’s not forget the damage done by the bad press they received in the pre-season which would have made a lot of mums and dads cautious about attending. As the word gets around that the WSW match day experience is actually quite safe as opposed to what some print media and shock jocks will tell you you will see some very big attendances at Parra stadium.
October 9th 2012 @ 9:47am
striker said | October 9th 2012 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Minister 100% agree with you the pre-season definately affected alot more people going to the game, in time this club can be a real force up there with Melbourne Vicrory there jerseys look the best in the league gotta get one.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:08am
Minister for Information for the Democratic People's Republic of Football said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:08am | Report comment
Gotta agree striker, their shirts look very f-ing cool. But the chance of me ,as a SFC fan, getting one….zero.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:22am
striker said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:22am | Report comment
Minister do you know how many tickets have been purchased for the game on saturday against Newcastle, i reckon if you would have won in wellington would be close to a sell out.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:26am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:26am | Report comment
It looks like the curse of the weather Gods is going to strike us again: (
BOM = Sat: shower or two – 19C
SFC CEO Pignata tweeted a week ago that all SFS Premium tickets had been sold for the Saturday fixture, but we all know that Sydneysiders get cold feet about attending live sport at the slightest hint of anything heavier than fog/mist. I predict 20k, but if the sun had been shining I would have plumped for 30k.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:52am
striker said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:52am | Report comment
I Think the performance agianst wellington wont help there cause either it was really bad.
October 9th 2012 @ 10:55am
Minister for Information for the Democratic People's Republic of Football said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Haven’t got the figures on me striker but they’re talking about 35000+ . I hope they’re not trying to blow wind up our ….s! Look SFC attendances have always been largely a walk-up crowd because everyone knows with a 45000 seater stadium you’ll almost always get a ticket at the door.
It won’t be a sell-out but I predict 25000 – 27000 due to the weather and SFC’s unconvincing display in round 1.
For me: 35 000 = HERE WE GO,HERE WE GO,HERE WE GO…!
October 9th 2012 @ 11:06am
Titus said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:06am | Report comment
It should be around 30 000, the performance on the weekend probably slowed sales somewhat.
You can call Sydney fans fickle if you want but if they turn up and get served dross, they won’t be back. Simple as that.
So really hoping for a much better performance and hoping McFlynn, who will not be dropped, plays at 500% of his ability.
October 9th 2012 @ 11:12am
Minister for Information for the Democratic People's Republic of Football said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Thanks for the edit on my last post mods. I’ll try to be a little more tidy with my postings in the future..OK?…(clenches fist).
October 9th 2012 @ 11:14am
Matt F said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:14am | Report comment
I think the weather (if indeed it does rain) will have more of an impact this week then the Wellington performance. The people who want to see ADP play will still want to see him play and most fans understand that one poor performance doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole season will be rubbish.
However we do need to start winning soon as the ADP novelty factor won’t hang around forever. If we have a poor first 4-6 weeks then our crowds will be in trouble as that’s when the novelty of seeing ADP play live will wear off for a lot of the bandwagon fans. If they’re going to continue to come and watch us play they need to witness a good team playing some attractive and successful football.
October 9th 2012 @ 11:16am
Kasey said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:16am | Report comment
Worryingly SFC have a recent history of serving up completely crap football whenever they get the chance to play in front of a large than usual crowd at home.
Like the kid who accidentally drops the c-bomb at dinner while meeting ‘her’ parents, SFC always seem to find a way to stink up the joint in front of potential fans.
I remember a game last year where the Sky Blues hosted Melbourne Red. Heart started the season looking dangerous, but towards the middle to the end of the season they petered out to miss the finals. For whatever reason a crowd of about 16k rocked up at the SFS.
Sydney proceeded to put on a display of terrible football, eventually losing 0-4…obviously not many potentials had their head turned that day..another missed opportunity: (
Last week’s performance doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence they will do much better against a Newcastle stung by Adelaide’s shock win.
October 9th 2012 @ 11:39am
Matt F said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:39am | Report comment
You had to bring up the Melbourne Heart game didn’t you!
Painful memories…..
October 11th 2012 @ 9:39pm
Just Wandering said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
Good commentry. I was at the pre-season game we all know about. The way the media followed the NRL led DailyTelegraphs story was disgraceful. However, I think they have worked out that the telegraph sells mostly in western sydney and its a western sydney team for the people. So the opportunity to make money may have changed the attitude of these organisations. I was really surprised to see coverage on ABC too. As for the game on saturday night, I am a foundation member of WSW and a season ticket holder. The atmosphere was awesome, people happy and the ground is very very good to watch football (perfect size and in good condition). If the fools stay away and the media leave out the negative stuff we will be up for the best season yet. Good stuff!
October 9th 2012 @ 10:35am
Fussball ist unser leben said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:35am | Report comment
Whilst I’m happy watching my team with 42 people or 42,000 people, I realise we need strong TV ratings & attendances to ensure football’s financial future in Australia.
It’s only R1, but average Foxtel ratings of 100k+ – for our allegedly crap league – is something that we could only dream about in the past.
Given the 30% market penetration of Foxtel & evidence from other sports that are broadcast on Foxtel & FTA Tv, a 100k Foxtel Tv rating would be equivalent to around 250-300k on FTA Tv.
For football revisionists, who like to look back on the “glory days of the past”, this magnitude of TV interest never occurred during the NSL.
For the football Eurosnobs, who like to ridicule the quality of our League, even the biggest EPL matches played during user-friendly hours (9:00 p.m. kick off) don’t attract these sort of ratings. La Liga & Serie A? Well, they aren’t even being broadcast in Australia.
But every AUS football fan, who lived through “the heartache of Nov-97″, knows that prematurely celebrating anything in AUS football is bound to end in tears.
“One swallow may not make a summer” … but, it certainly puts a spring in my step.
October 9th 2012 @ 12:34pm
fadida said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Don’t mention ’97. Still shatters me when I think about it
October 9th 2012 @ 11:38am
Mantis said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:38am | Report comment
As far as the TV deal goes, I couldnt care about the money to be honest. Obviously the more money the better, but I truly couldnt care. All i care about is that there is some Free to Air component, ideally on SBS. At least 1 live game per round, a highlights show and finals games would be a great start.
October 9th 2012 @ 11:53am
Midfielder said | October 9th 2012 @ 11:53am | Report comment
As we evolve we need to understand growth.
The big sports pre Hal [money wise] were AFL, NRL, RU, Cricket, Tennis …. Football…
The RU media deal is around 600 million or 120 million per year, BUT spread over 3 countries the ARU depending on whose count you believe gets between 30 & 35 million [per year] for the Super Competition, Tri Nations and other test matches. NZ & SA get the rest and as I understand it SA gets the most around 50 million per year.
Remember today FFA unlike the previous media deal[and the once offered 40 million 2 years ago] do not have the rights to Socceroo matches for which they receive about 6 million a year. Meaning the media deal is mostly for the A-League.
To get between 35 & 50 million for the A-League, and remember you need to add the six million above, exceeds what the ARU get for RU. In this context anything around the 50 million mark especially with a FTA match and Socceroos broadcast FTA is a good result. We are not in the NRL or AFL league yet…
We need to compare ourselves in our market league i.e. RU, Basketball, ….. we will evolve to a higher level but always remember where we have come from…
October 9th 2012 @ 12:04pm
Midfielder said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
Just adding …. Even 40 million is more than RU and TBH that is not a bad outcome when considering it’s the A-League that is being sold unlike RU who can sell their tests matches as well as the super competition matches and the Super competition has 15 teams … only five Australian but all matches are broadcast each week…
October 9th 2012 @ 10:00pm
Emric said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:00pm | Report comment
Midfielder – the RU deal covers only Super Rugby + Tri-nations (now the Rugby Championship). End of year tours, mid season tours are all organised independently. NZ and SA have separate deals for the ITM Cup and CC. The Rugby Union Deal is 437 million USD which works out to be 29 million USD a year for 5 teams which is 5.8 million USD per team per year for football to get the same value of money per team over 10 teams would require 58 million per year or 290 million USD over 5 years.
from what I’ve read it looks like it will get close to this figure which will be great for the A-League
October 9th 2012 @ 12:01pm
Siege of Perth said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
This time the A-League wont be forced give away TV rights at least, however I dont expect too much of an increase in the money paid. I think the biggest change will be the free to air componet. Bare minimum for me would be 1 free game plus a match of the day on delay of SBSs choice but am hoping for more. The real question for me though is how the FFA will be using the extra money it gets.
October 9th 2012 @ 12:04pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
It’s been fascinating to watch the complete turnaround in the way SBS/TWG analyses & reviews the HAL in recent months.
In the past, TWG would spend a brief 5-10 minutes on discussing the HAL and Zdrilic & Foster would take turns in grimacing & pontificating about issues – on-field & off-field.
Last night, I reckon, 50-75% of the show was devoted to HAL and the lads were glowing in their praise – heck they were more buoyant & upbeat about the R1 football than I was!
By contrast, EPL, La Liga & Serie A were summarised briefly and I don’t recall any UCL review.
SBS is now seriously back in favour with the FFA.
It’s just been announced that the FIFA Futsal World Cup, that is being held in Thailand this month & includes Australia’s own Futsalroos, will be LIVE on SBS from Friday 2 November.
“SBS will broadcast all of Australia’s games live and in prime time, including the group stage matches against Italy, Mexico and Argentina, as well as the semi-finals and the final.”
WE ARE FOOTBALL … and SBS has always been our home.
October 9th 2012 @ 12:15pm
Midfielder said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
Fuss
SBS are the new FTA broadcaster and the phoney war they ran against Hal was always to get football back…
October 9th 2012 @ 12:33pm
Towser said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
You have to be right ,thats the only way you could fathom why they didn’t stick the boot into SFC after their amateur hour performance against Wellington.
Waited & waited for it to come,never happened.
October 9th 2012 @ 12:40pm
fadida said | October 9th 2012 @ 12:40pm | Report comment
Surprising SFC and Jets didn’t cop more flak from Foz especially. For me Jets were the worst side on display.
Amazed to see Fozz so positive. While I enjoyed the opening round and will watch the a-league ahead of the EPL, it wasnt to the level I’d hoped or expected. Very impressed by WP and Fenton.
All that talk of Jets high tempo, pressing, movement and rotation……
October 9th 2012 @ 1:51pm
AndyRoo said | October 9th 2012 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
Crook was an appointment they backed which always gives you more time. They had the ADP interview and that would probably be a factor along with the new football CEO too.
October 9th 2012 @ 1:58pm
c said | October 9th 2012 @ 1:58pm | Report comment
fuss foxsports also doing a very much improved magnificent job compared to recent past luv c
October 9th 2012 @ 10:43pm
Griffo said | October 9th 2012 @ 10:43pm | Report comment
The A-League segment seemed to go quickly, but did a double take when the clock reckoned it was 40 minutes long.
I wonder how long it will be when ‘The A-League Wrap’ is its own show on SBS…
October 9th 2012 @ 1:26pm
KHAN said | October 9th 2012 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
I was the at SFC against MH game last year and most of the part timers openly said they weren’t coming back to watch SFC.
October 9th 2012 @ 1:39pm
Titus said | October 9th 2012 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
But Sydney continued to get decent crowds for the rest of the year regardless.
If SFC are rubbish they will still get 12-15 000 turn up all year, the point is, if they played good football they would get 20-25 000 all year.
October 9th 2012 @ 1:45pm
striker said | October 9th 2012 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
Titus the difference this year is Wetern Sydney and alot of the supporters will now support them.they will still have 10-12 k regualar support at least i hope they will.