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The Brisbane Broncos bring in the biggest TV audience. That’s a fact. So surely they should get the prime TV slots, right?
I’ve examined the free-to-air (FTA) and Foxtel ratings for every home-and-away match of the 2016 NRL season and the Broncos rule the ratings. But there are good arguments for and against them getting the plum spots.
First, let’s look at which broadcast days and times get the biggest and smallest amount of viewers.
Based on the 2016 ratings, this is how the timeslots rank in order, and what the numbers looks like:
| Days (ranked) | Time | Avg. viewers FTA | Avg. viewers FoxSports | Overall average |
| Friday | 7:30pm / 8:05pm | 793,045 (+10%) | 204,308 (-12%) | 997,353 (+5%) |
| Thursday | 7:30pm / 8:05pm | 749,000 (+4%) | 214,471 (-7.5%) | 963,471 (+1%) |
| Sunday | 4pm | 616,500 (-15.5%) | 210,240 (-9%) | 826,740 (-13%) |
| Saturday | 7:30pm | 287,115 (+24%) | ||
| Monday | 7pm | 276,958 (+20%) | ||
| Saturday | 5:30pm | 257,870 (+11%) | ||
| Sunday | 6:30pm | 229,000 (-1%) | ||
| Saturday | 3pm | 202,550 (-12.5%) | ||
| Sunday | 2pm | 201,667 (-13%) | ||
| Total avg. viewers: | 719,515 | 231,575 | 951,090 |
As you can see, the three FTA slots have easily the biggest viewing audiences. While Foxtel has over 2,300,000 subscriptions in Australia, that accounts for only 30 per cent of Australian households. As a result the viewing audience for the games that Foxtel broadcasts are roughly only a quarter of the FTA audience.
The biggest Foxtel games are Saturday night at 7:30pm and the now extinct Monday timeslot – an extinction that the pay television partner is unlikely to be happy about given it’s moved to Friday. More on that later.
What the above figures show clearly is that the later in the day a match is shown, the higher the viewing audience will be. The 3pm Saturday and 2pm Sunday slots definitely have the lowest viewing audiences. And who gets those? In 2016 the Titans and Warriors both got ten of their 24 games in those slots. The Raiders and the Knights both got 12. This year the Knights will get eight of their first 18 games in those slots.
How many of these worst time slots did the Broncos get in 2016 and in 2017? You guessed it: none. They are needed elsewhere to generate the big ratings.
Late last year the NRL released the scheduling for the first 20 rounds of the 2017 competition. And once more the FTA spots have been monopolised by the usual few select teams. Here is what the spread looks like for each team in 2017:
| Team | Thur 7:30pm | Fri 6pm | Fri 8pm | Sat 3pm | Sat 5:30pm | Sat 7:30pm | Sun 2pm | Sun 4pm | Sun 6:30pm | Other | Total Free to air | 2016 finish |
| Broncos | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13/18 | 5th |
| Rabbitohs | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 13/18 | 12th |
| Wests Tigers | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 12/18 | 9th |
| Bulldogs | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11/18 | 7th |
| Eels | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11/18 | 14th |
| Roosters | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9/18 | 15th |
| Storm | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7/18 | 2nd |
| Sharks | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7/18 | 1st |
| Panthers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6/18 | 6th |
| Cowboys | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6/18 | 4th |
| Dragons | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6/18 | 11th |
| Titans | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4/18 | 8th |
| Raiders | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4/18 | 3rd |
| Sea Eagles | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2/18 | 13th |
| Warriors | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2/18 | 10th |
| Knights | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1/18 | 16th |
Any way you look at these allocations it is clear that if you’re a side from Sydney – or the Broncos – you are a good chance of getting lots of your games on free-to-air. Of the 114 spots in games on free-to-air over the first 20 rounds, the Broncos, Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers and Bulldogs will take 49 of them (43%). That’s four sides taking close to half of the possible exposure (43%).
Of the 40 spots for the prime Friday night 8pm slot, the Broncos and the Rabbitohs take 17 (42.5%). That means between them they feature in 15 of the 20 games in that slot.
The allocation of the free to air spots clearly has little to do with the previous year’s form either. The final four from last year have only been allocated 24 of the 114 free to air spots (21%). The Rabbitohs and the Wests Tigers who finished 12th and 9th respectively in 2016 have 25 between them (22%).
This season there is a new fixture that starts at six o’clock Friday night. While this appears to give more clubs coveted Friday night spots, they are not on free to air. It is also questionable – given the above ratings figures for timeslots – whether the early Friday spot will garner anywhere near the ratings of the eight o’clock spot. Further, a six o’clock start may be a challenge for crowds not just to get to the couch but also to get to the ground. We may see some pretty sparse stadiums as a result. It could well be a failure in regard to both tv ratings and crowd numbers. Notably the Broncos aren’t scheduled to play once in this timeslot.
This season there is a new fixture that starts at six o’clock Friday night. While this appears to give more clubs coveted Friday night spots, they are not on free to air.
It is also questionable – given the above ratings figures for timeslots – whether the early Friday spot will garner anywhere near the ratings of the eight o’clock spot. Further, a six o’clock start may be a challenge for crowds not just to get to the couch but also to get to the ground. We may see some pretty sparse stadiums as a result.
It could well be a failure in regard to both TV ratings and crowd numbers. Notably the Broncos aren’t scheduled to play once in this timeslot. What does that tell you?
This sort of scheduling favouritism is nothing new. The current broadcast agreement gives the free-to-air broadcaster the right to schedule the games for each round.
Channel Nine – through its scheduling – clearly has favourites.
The Broncos, Roosters, Bulldogs and Rabbitohs last season played over 50 per cent of their games on FTA. In the run into the finals the Rabbitohs and the Roosters were also rans and Channel Nine still gave them preference over the Sharks, Storm, and Cowboys who were in the top three.
Why? Because they believe that their four favoured clubs will garner the best ratings, regardless of ladder position. Ratings equal advertising dollars. Advertising dollars equal profit. In the very crowded media marketplace these decisions are as much a matter of survival as anything else.
And the numbers back up Channel Nine’s position.
While in the Thursday night timeslot, the Eels received the best average ratings over their two appearances, followed by the Sea Eagles with their three goes in the timeslot, the Eels played the Broncos, and the Sea Eagles played the Bulldogs in getting those ratings. The best raters for the Thursday night spot then goes Broncos, Rabbitohs and Bulldogs.
In the Friday timeslot, the rank order of the top four raters is Cowboys, Storm, Broncos and Bulldogs. It is a similar story for the Sunday 4pm match: Cowboys, Broncos, Storm, Roosters.
Remember, just because you schedule a side in a prime spot does not mean that people will tune in. The ratings figures show that whenever the Broncos are on Channel Nine that lots of people always watch.
The broadcast deal gives Channel Nine the power to make the scheduling decisions and – at the end of the day – I believe that there is a good argument for that. They have paid a load of cash for the right to broadcast the game, they should be able to maximise the earning power of the product they have bought.
I’d be a hypocrite to say anything else.
I effectively get paid because advertisers pay to have their ads on The Roar. I am very conscious of what sort of things will garner the most interest with readers and while it does not dictate what I choose to write about, it is certainly something I consider. Consider the title of this article. The Broncos fans are instantly interested, as are the incredulous Broncos haters.
So what are the arguments against the Broncos getting a disproportionate share of the prime free-to-air spots?
Well, just because it is in the best interest of the broadcaster to control the scheduling, that does not mean it is in the best interests of the competition or the clubs.
The new broadcast deal that starts in 2018 sees control of the scheduling return to NRL HQ. There has been much hope placed in that resulting in a far fairer draw that sees each team get equal exposure to the prime broadcast spots.
Further, the Broncos are a one team town, in a town of 2.3 million. That’s not counting the surrounding areas either. If they can’t draw an audience, who can? Does that mean we should also give them all the exposure?
That the AFL has as many teams in Brisbane – a rugby league heartland – as the NRL does is a total disgrace and is as much a testament to the failure of every rugby league regime since 1988.
As I’ve suggested before, the NRL should waste no time manufacturing another team in Brisbane. This is never going to be a case of “build it and they will come.” The only chance that a new side has to grab a foothold in that very uncrowded yet full marketplace is for it to be an existing side that is promoted from the Queensland Cup. It must have rusted on, parochial supporters. The Ipswich Jets are the obvious option. You could also look at Souths Logan.
However, this issue is not so much an argument against the Broncos getting the best free-to-air spots as it is a commentary on the very flawed structure of the NRL.
What is a valid argument is the impact it has on the sponsorship dollars the other clubs can get.
Pop quiz: Of the 16 NRL teams, how many current primary sponsors can you name. I watch a lot of rugby league and I could only name seven correctly off the top of my head. It isn’t surprising what they were:
• NRMA Insurance
• Toyota
• Crown
• Steggles
• Kia
• Southern Radiology and
• Huawei (my team)
I reckon I remember those ones because they are the logos I see the most on television.
Potential sponsors do their research. They know what exposure they’ll get out of having their logo on the front of the Broncos jersey as compared to what they’ll get out of having it on the front of the Knights strip. The money they’ll give the respective clubs will be in line with that. They also get corporate boxes – perfect for impressing clients and giving staff something to enjoy as well.
Sponsorship money is essential not just for paying the salaries of players, but also for paying other staff, as well as paying for travel, equipment, premises, etc. The more you get, the better your facilities and support. That should lead to making your club a more desirable place to be and hopefully to better results too.
If there is a far more even spread of free-to-air exposure it helps the smaller clubs get exposure and bigger sponsorship dollars. Add good recruiting, good administration, good coaching and lots of luck and your club might just win the comp!
As with most debates, the answer is most likely in the middle course: the prime television spots should be shared around more equally. But the broadcaster should also be able to maximise their ratings by giving some favouritism in the scheduling to sides like the Broncos who reliably pull the viewers in.