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It has been a big past month when it comes to special television ratings events in Australian sport.
Penultimate Socceroo World Cup qualifiers, once in every 12 year British and Irish Lions tours, and the annual extravaganza that is State of Origin.
There have been some surprising, encouraging and expected results from these events, as well as some strong competition between them.
Firstly, the Socceroos.
The team’s match against Japan was watched by 294,000 national viewers live on Fox Sports, and on the one-hour delay on SBS it received a five-city metro audience of 458,000. So a combined audience of 752,000 viewers.
The next game, against Jordan, was watched by 363,000 on Fox Sports and was the highest rating sports event on pay TV that week. The Jordan game was watched by a metro audience of 761,000 on SBS (combined 1.124 million), with good increases on both platforms from the Japan result.
The final match, against Iraq, was an even bigger result. It received a massive 549,000 viewers on pay TV and 1.1 million on SBS (combined 1.649 million). This was the highest rating Socceroos match of all time for Fox Sports, and SBS’s highest rating program of the year so far.
While not having the Socceroos live on free-to-air is far from ideal, the move to get the matches on delay on SBS has been a very important step forward. It allows more people to watch the national team and for wider interest to grow. Hopefully this momentum from the Socceroos games can be maintained into the upcoming A-League season.
Interestingly, some of the Socceroos games clashed with the Lions tour midweek matches. The Australia vs Jordan game was on at the same time as the Lions vs Combined NSW-Queensland Country match. It failed to rate higher than 226,000 viewers on pay TV and was not in the top ten highest rating sports events of the week, however, it should also be remembered that this was by far the weakest game of the tour.
None of the Lions midweek tour games have rated very highly. The game against the Reds was watched by 208,000 on Fox Sports, while the Waratahs encounter also failed to go over 226,000. Even the Brumbies historic upset was watched by less than 216,000 people on pay TV.
The Lions game against the Western Force clashed with State of Origin Game I, while the Brumbies match was on at the same time as the Socceroo’s crunch qualifer versus Iraq. These conflicts have not convinced causal viewers to tune in to the provincial vs Lions match-ups in big numbers.
Happily for the Australian Rugby Union, the Wallabies-Lions Tests have done much better than the midweek matches, as was expected. The first test was watched by 397,000 viewers on Fox Sports, and was the second highest rating sports event that week behind the Socceroos v Iraq game.
On free-to-air 869,000 people in the five capital cities watched the series opener on Channel Ten, for a combined audience of 1.266 million. Ten’s pre-match and post-match coverage also rated well, garnering 531,000 and 470,000 viewers respectively.
Surprisingly, the second Wallabies-Lions Test recorded a small decrease on the audience for the first match, with 414,00 watching on Fox Sports and 815,000 on Ten (combined 1.229 million). This was an increase on the pay TV result but a drop on the free-to-air one. However with the series still on the line at 1-1, a big audience for the third and final Test in Sydney is expected.
Meanwhile, ratings for State of Origin remain very, very strong. For Game 1, 2.433 million tuned in the five metro markets for the match on Channel Nine, with the pre-match coverage watched by 1.787 million and the post-match wrap watched by 1.475 million.
For Game II the figures were similar – 2.234 million for the match, 1.777 million for the pre-match and 1.504 million for the post-match. With this series also tied at 1-1, another massive audience should be on hand to see if NSW can finally break Queensland’s dominance. Last year Origin’s Game I was watched by 2.51 million, Game II 2.47 million and Game III a record high of 2.62 million. The 2013 edition’s numbers aren’t as high as the 2012 version so far, but that could change in the third game and, overall, they are still very impressive.
But with such a massive month of sport on the box, what do we make of all us? I think we can discern a few trends.
Media analyst Steve Allen describes the Socceroos ratings results as a “really good viewing result, quite strong in demographics”.
“Around a 50% lift in free-to-air/SBS in viewing at each match,” he said.
“Strong growth and growing interest as we edged closer to 2014 Brazil. We forecast this would get over 1 million viewers and so it did for SBS. In the context of World Cup 2010, these are good solid audiences.”
On the Wallabies-Lions results, Allen was surprised the audience for the second Test was down from the size of the first Test: “A solid result but we expected this to grab more ground, and certainly not deteriorate in key markets. As we have said on many occasions before, rugby union is the football code really missing out on establishing a consistent large following and a FTA Network partner to boost the profile and popularity of the game.
“[But] this level of rugby union audience performance is well above even Bledisloe Cup. We would have to go back to 2006 to find this kind of audience support. So, comparatively, very successful.”
On State of Origin Game I, Allen said the NRL could not have asked for a better start to the series and it “puts some fire and competitive passion into the ratings”.
“Unusually late start in the year to State Of Origin, back a fortnight from normal,” he said.
“Audience performance was solid, but not telecast on the primary channel Perth, so in some respects artificially down at nearly 2.4 million, off 3.47%.”
On Game II Allen said: “Second best ratings result for Game II on record. Melbourne remained relatively strong, though down a bit on where it has been. This sets up a blinder of Game III. Ratings [for that match] should be exceptionally strong.”
In my opinion these figures show the growth that the Socceroos have enjoyed over the past eight to 10 years, with their profile expanded and success in qualifying for three World Cups in a row helping them become one of Australia’s top national teams.
The Wallabies remain a big drawer but continual success is the key to higher ratings, as well as having the backing of strong free-to-air partner. Domestic success in the provincial level can also be a fair boost. The same can be said for football and the Socceroos. A flourishing A-League has positively impacted on the Socceroos’ ratings performance.
If the Wallabies can pull off a win in Sydney this weekend, bigger ratings for the Rugby Championship and beyond beckon. Over to you, Robbie and boys.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.