NRL marketing leaves a lot to be desired

The NRL will be fine, all the hype about AFL in GWS at the moment is making people forget the key point that the NRL is experiencing record TV ratings, crowds and revenue. In 2013 the top players in our game will be making 700k+. This all reminds me of Union 10 yrs ago, the stars left but came back. This will all die down shortly. The reality is if you went to any work site in Sydney you wouldn't find people talking about AFL.

The league is live into Melbourne TV sets tonight and Sunday morning. For the first time the league is to be shown at the same time as the dominant AFL. Times are a Changing!!!

I think the salary cap scandal has been a great marketing tool. Record TV ratings big increase in crowds and a lot more members. What more do you want. Everyone in Melbourne knows who the Storm are. Now you just have to market it as the Sydney centric NRL wanting to get at the Storm and the people in Melbourne will back em. By the way the TV Audiences for Rugby League when they are played at a decent time are very very good. Much better than the swannies games in sydney which is on a regular basis. Give league a go. I became a Storm member this year - just to make a point! Stil working on what the point was. And yes I am a AFL follower.

......by adding in the SoO, the internationals and having 16 extra matches ............and it helped having Storm in the GF (no danger of that THIS year!!).

If so, good on him, because that's how we beat the AFL in ratings over the accumulative year- due to our rural cities lifting us over the AFL in the end. But more marketing should be done in Brisbane and Sydney, along with major cities outside the heartlands.

I think it has some influence, look at when the ARU goes for League players- when the World Cup is close, and look at the idea of these codes having international fixtures- money. The CA keeps the domestic competition only so it strengthens the international side- which is what makes all the money. The money generated by international fixtures is what makes the need for them, along with that some players in codes (especially the NFL) that do not have national teams wish to play for their country. An example of this is an American college NFL player who changed to League (now in Noosa) to eventually play for his country.

Actually Redb I think Foxtel is more of a Union channel, as well as AFL. Rugby League is always on Fox Sports 2, whereas AFL and especially Union is shown on Fox Sports 1, and this is the most prominent channel (besides FoxSportsNews) of them all to be bought in a package.

I agree 100% but unfortunately with the current admin, common sense is not exactly in abundance.

Interestingly, I reckon the very best marketing campaigns, in any sport, over the last 20 or so years have come from the NRL, and by a good margin. The A-League ads in the first two season were pretty good (but have become a bit lame of late) The current Super 14 ad is ordinary (with Rocky pounding some dough). The AFL ad comparing it to a stack of other sports wasn't bad, but their record of doing ads over the same period has been nothing sort of atrocious. Really, nothing of theirs has ever anywhere near the Cazaly ad from years ago. To be honest, they could play that ad today, and it would be better than anything they've done in the mean time.

The Reason why the AFL has wads of cach is becuase its the most popular sport in the country with over 600,000 paid up members, 300,000 crowds every round, and 3.5 million on the box. How much clearer can I be?? A-league just doesn't rate or draw a crowd...audience whatever...if it did...it would be flush with cash...simple TV execs and the Media companies aren't that stupid you know...

:) yes, Mario as our marketeer. Who brainwashed that job. I think he markets the game to country towns. To be fair.

Stormin red, they have byes for all teams over 2 to 3 weeks, so they miss out regardless. What i am saying is, instead of having byes this week-end, next week-end, have them all this week-end, its the same thing except your getting other games to compensate. Its not rocket science, its growing the game. So to replace games this week-end, we add a couple more tests. It can be done, should be done, and only short-sightedness is preventing it from happening.

Ian, As Jimbo said, Foxtel is a virtual RL channel. How is the media trying to kill RL? You have one of the major media groups in the country as a shareholder. The RL test will rate pretty well I reckon. The opening of the new stadium in Melbourne is like giving birth to a new child in this city. :-)

Redb If you do that, then why do you regularly appear in these columns? The "League" heading at the top of the page isn't referring to that bastardisation of Aussie Rules Football. One of the best things about the current state of the media, is they cannot kill this game, despite years of trying. And to think Channel Nine are finally going head to head against the AFL outside of NSW/QLD tomorrow night, showcasing a capacity crowd in Melbourne.

yeah i do the same thing with all the RL fluff stories on Foxtel.

Isn't that what the mute or fast forward button on the remote is for. Excellent for removing Ad's, AFL saturation sports coverage on the News and most importantly toning down those soft porn ads that permeate through late night rugby league on Channel Nine. Its the only power consumers have to resist this rubbish being rammed down our throat.

I think Mario Fenech is responsible for marketing in the NRL. Speaks volumes of this appointment.

The NRL simply doesn't have the money to throw at marketing in comparison to the AFL.That is not to say they shouldn't get off their backsides and do better. If ch9 and News have been designated as the PR machines,they are doing a very ordinary job of it.The off field incidents,some of which involve nothing more than being drunk or squirting ina dark alley,have been blown out of proportion,by both. As a matter of fact ch7 and 10 with their sports' news ,are giving rl a better go ,tah n teh offical broadcaster on many occasions.Contract time is coming surprise. Ch9 is so great at marketing rl ,they have AFL stories on first at 4.30pm news before rl,and they show rl at "snoresville hours" in Melborune. The sooner these clowns get the message and actually operate under their contractual requirements or hand it over to someone who will,then we can talk about promotion. The ARU lacks cash? They had $38m after the 2003WC,and wasted it on ARC etc and on rugby league players.They reaped what they had sown. Now we have ch9 having ru intnls and S15 highlights and the print media have ru journos and fellow travellers like FitzSimons(who has reams of ru fluff stories) and Carlton spruiking their stuff.So much for the favourable rl media.even rebecca wilson has done a couple of fluuf stories on ru,where her sons play at a private school. Wouldn't have anything to do with the pecking order re popularity of the codes(even allowing for ru intnls).

Broncos used to be "lets go broncos". I think it's different this year but I have seen it. The AFL one is on all 3 big channels and I've seen it a lot more. That said the Titans membership campaign was huge and it basically seemed like they were sponsering the winter olympics (and I live in Brisbane!)

That's a fair enough point and you might be right. In fairness, SOO sells itself, doesn't really need a lot of promotion. You could show it on community TV in the middle of the night, and the ratings would still be through the roof.