Today I am writing to express my opinion on the state of the A-League’s lack of On Demand availability.
Before the start of the current A-League season, FFA CEO David Gallop stated “Football will become the largest and most popular sport in this country.”
High hopes, coming from a sport that is far behind AFL, NRL and cricket in popularity.
AFL is easily the premier sport in Australia, with teams all around Australia, ordinary mid-year games getting in excess of 50,000 people in the stands and it even has it’s own channel on Foxtel (Fox Footy).
AFL is in the spotlight all year round. The NRL has a massive following in Australia as well, with State of Origin being the biggest draw card of the year.
The A-League is in it’s ninth season and is gaining more popularity as the quality of the games have improved and bigger marquee players join the competition.
The A-League have made a big step into a new market with one free-to-air game being shown on SBS every Friday night.
This is a step in the right direction. Fox Sports definitely have helped the A-League become what it is today and without it, I don’t know if it could have survived.
I am not a Foxtel subscriber as I cannot afford it and wouldn’t I wouldn’t get my money’s worth if I was to sign up.
I had subscribed (but have now cancelled) to Foxtel Play to only watch the A-League on my iPad.
$50 a month is what Foxtel are asking and for me, that is too much to pay when I watch maybe two or three games if that, a week.
It’s not Foxtel’s fault that I can’t watch the A-League. They provide a service and it’s up to me, the user to utilise it.
I would like to see the A-League provide an On-Demand subscription service like the NRL, NFL, NBA and NHL utilise.
I am currently subscribed to NFL Game Pass and I paid around $220 for a full season.
That gives me full access to every game live and on demand and even a condensed version that shows every play.
You can watch on multiple devices and laptops. The NBA and NHL offer similar packages.
Now I know the USA is completely different environment with over 330 million people, so they have a larger audience and can invest a lot more money into this avenue.
The NRL and AFL both had their respective Apps where you would pay $90 for a full season with all games being shown live or on delay.
That is a lot cheaper than Pay TV.
Cricket Australia has even released an App this year where you can watch all games live for $20! Granted, all the cricket is on Channel Nine for free, but a lot of people can’t always get to a TV.
I believe the A-League needs to get into this market if they ever truly want to gain on their competitors.
I know I wouldn’t be the only one who would sign-up in a heartbeat for a subscription for just the A-League, with an option to watch games on demand.
As we all know, the weekends are usually the busiest times in our week and i’d love to be able to go out with friends on Saturday night and wake up on Sunday morning and watch the replay of the Saturday night’s games.
Instead if I have plans when a game is on, too bad. There’s no chance to catch-up.
The A-League is an emerging code in Australia and I believe they need to catch-up with other codes if they ever truly want to get a bigger slice of the pie.
Chris
Roar Rookie
Hey Griffo, I did think that they might wait for the new media deal to maybe implement something. To tell you the truth i didn't even think of the FFA starting their own subscription paid service, but i'm sure they would have a contract somewhere stating that's a big no-no from foxtel. But hey, we can dream can't we?! That's the reason i cancelled my subscription this month, i cant justify it. I could only watch 1/2 a game this weekend (on fox) and to be paying $12.50 a week, it's like i'm throwing away my money. Yes i agree it should of already be done, i think they are missing out. With the amount of tablets and smart phones people use everyday, it's the next step. Hopefully sooner, rather than later, as you said.
Chris
Roar Rookie
Hey Bondy, Yes i agree with you that there probably isn't enough games to warrant an subscription fee, but maybe if they could package it with the EPL (which hopefully would be On-Demand aswell) then it would be more lucrative for them.
Chris
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the info. I've always heard about sites like these but never have thought about using them. I might check them out and see how i go. I would love to keep watching the football this year. You just never know what is going to happen this year! Thanks again!
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
Two paragraphs in and I can tell this is written by a Victorian, AFL is not the most popular sport in Australia by miles it isn't even the most popular sport. Outside of Victoria AFL is not the be all and end all. It is why real football is actually the most popular in terms of participation, Girls/women can play football to the age of 13 or 14 before hand AFL isn't really huge in NSW & QLD and as a result football has more players playing than any of the other sports
Griffo
Roar Guru
Interesting article on this sort of thing earlier in the year: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/unlock-hulu-and-bbc-iplayer-in-a-click-with-hola-20130124-2d8zu.html
1860melbourne
Guest
Football has the youngest demographic of the four codes. Young tech savvy individuals. Why such a service hasnt started already is a mystery. The television deal didnt include any digital rights. I dont know if the Optus deal coming to and end had anything to do with it. I subscribe to livesport.tv for a measly 6 euros per month and can unsubscribe anytime I want. Money that could have gone to FFA via digital rights deal that would benefit the game in Australia. That may still occur I dont know. On another topic I have noticed that W league games will be broadcast by Foxsports. I think cable tv will have a bigger strangle hold on football going forward until a free to air network comes up with a major cash injection .
Griffo
Roar Guru
There is a browser plugin that is suppose to spoof your region so as to access overseas subscription services...although I can't remember the name right now but have been meaning to try it...IIRC it works for Hulu type services which can detect those anti-geoblock services so could be worth a shot...
Griffo
Roar Guru
Hey Chris, nicely done, and agree 100%. I think the FFA should be looking into online, on-demand streaming now. What they might do is wait until after the next media deal, or at worse suddenly wake up one morning, smell the roses, and then make a mad scramble to implement something over night. They could tender to a third party, but depends on their online partner terms. While I can see FoxSports not being too happy if it affects their revenue and subscription numbers, for the FFA the demand could enable them to earn ad revenue as well. All about increase the diversity of their revenue streams. At least more people could watch the A-League online than on Foxtel if the subscription price is right. I haven't been able to see as many streams this season, and I can never justify the expense of a Foxtel subscription just for football. As you say you cannot always sit down when the network tells you to, or record the match. We needed an online, on-demand service yesterday in my opinion. Lets hope FFA don't play catch-up on catch-up A-League.tv ...
SlickAs
Guest
Yes, the AFL is better than the AFC Asian football streaming in that they have on-demand replays. With a proxy you can have that also. Site http://afltv.afl.com.au/
Mike
Roar Guru
Thanks for the stats jb. Sounds very promising. 7% attendance growth is very doable. Factor in any other variables such as marquees, expansion, the next tv rights deal, FFA Cup, bigger NPL, more exposure for the W-League, etc, and the A-League will be skyrocketing. I think another thing that will help is a cultural shift in Australia. A lot of men in the younger generation are becoming less 'blokey', and more 'hipster/geek chic.'. And while any cultural demographic can freely follow any sport of their choosing, their seems to be less of a need for people to have their 'manly fix' of watching sportsmen tackle each other/beat each other up.
Bondy
Guest
There isn't enough football on fox to warrant a subscription fee, I'm very soon leaving Fox's cable network its full of celebrities from aussie rules and rugby league with chat shows those two sports control commercial tv in this country and now its shoved down my throat on the cable provider ?. Anyform of football is a waste of money if Fox's involved they dont want it nor care about people like you and me.
Roarsome
Guest
The NRL have something similar for free and it's pretty good quality, run on their website. The AFL charge a little, not sure exactly how much. IMO, MLB do it the best. Didn't know about this site for AFC, thanks. I had been watching games through a stream. Thanks again for the heads up, I shall invest in the code.
SlickAs
Guest
Just so you know ... I am an Australian living in Canada and watch the A-league with something similar to your NFL game pass that is sold by the AFC for access to Asian football for those outside Asia. Not available in Australia, but if you can organise yourself a US or Canadian proxy, its $7 per month and as well as all A-league games you get J-League, K-League, Dutch Eredivisie and others. You can get yourself a high-speed proxy for a small amount per month and you should be in business (I organise myself an Australian proxy at times, like during the Olympics, to watch stuff streamed in Australia but geo-blocked here). Here is your link: http://www.afc.livesport.tv/
c
Guest
chris as our game increases in popularity in all facets so will the choices to watch it listen to it and hear about it :)
j binnie
Guest
Mike,- without increasing the season in any way (135 games) & the number of teams (10), if the HAL continues to enjoy the growth it has this season (7%) your magical 3 million attendees (to league matches only) will be reached in 7 years.That is assuming we have no more marquees at any of the clubs who could create an ADP effect as enjoyed last year. If we did that time frame could be altered drastically. jb
Mike
Roar Guru
I share your pain, Chris! I've been impatient too, as we all have. We all want expansion and full free-to-air now. :) I find that it really helps if you look at it like this: The A-League is in its 9th season and it has grown incredibly quickly. No other competition in Australia has taken off so fast. The AFL (VFL) originally began with only 8 teams, and then didn't expand for another 12 years, and then again after another 17 years. I know that they were different times back then, but it's a reminder that some of the other more established comps have been around for over a century. Considering that the A-League was formed out of thin air, I think it has advanced incredibly far. I think within about 10 years we'll have 14 teams and over 3 million attendance in every 9-month season.
Chris
Guest
Cheers for the reply Mike. I totally agree 100% with you about a push to free-to-air coverage, but i could not see that happening especially with Fox Sports holding all of the rights. I believe you are right in that football will rise in popularity over the years. It's just that the last couple of years I have barely watched any A-League except for the Jets who i support, and only then i would catch a match every week or two. The main problem being availability. I don't want to have to go to a pub every time i want to watch the A-League. As none of my friends are into football that much. I just feel the A-League is missing out on a great opportunity with breaking into a new market of people who would love to watch the sport but are not going to go out of their way to watch it. You are right though Mike, it will happen eventually. I think I am just impatient.
Mike
Roar Guru
On demand service would be great, and it will probably be around one day. Although I think I'd rather just see a push for all matches on free-to-air instead at this stage. Televisions nowadays can either be hooked up to a DVR to record a match if you're out, or you can simply even plug in a USB and set if for record. But while the on demand idea would still be great, I don't think it's entirely necessary in order to catch up to the other codes. That is something that's inevitable. The growth of the sport in Australia, as well as the effects of globalisation, will see football rise on its own accord. It's the game of the world and has something that no other sport here has.