I was one of the people who believed football could rate an audience of between 200,000 and 300,000 per match on a commercial free-to-air station.
This was all based on two things. The first was that the media would go from hostile to positive, whereas in reality, negative media has gone into hyperdrive.
The second was that Network Ten would promote football. The kind would say they have been poor, the cruel would say they have been pathetic.
I often read US websites and a recent tweet had me puzzled. It said that the traditional US sports were all losing ratings and that only football showed a growth, though it was only four to eight per cent off a small base depending on the broadcaster.
One particular football site I read is called Big Soccer, and reading from its forums over the years I concluded that the biggest fan groups in the US are millennials or generation Y, who were born between 1977 and 2002, and generation Z, or centennials, who were born after 2002. I can recall reading research in Australia also saying these were also the biggest groups we have.
I became somewhat confused as to why MLS was growing while other sports were failing, and in trying to answer my own question I stumbled upon the 2017 Web Summit.
While watching some of the YouTube videos I realised I had deserted basic business principles in looking at Australian football, so here are my two huge confessions: free-to-air TV ratings are nowhere near as important as we think, and we need to go back to basic business principals on broadcast platforms.
Further to the video above is a 2016 Conversation article that suggests that a bottom-up approach is the way to go, which lends enormous support to the creation of a second division and for promotion and relegation when ready.
In the video, one presenter described the various media platforms and breaks them down not by race, gender, or wealth but by age. He says in brief that TV is a ‘boomer’ platform and neither millennials nor gen Z watch TV. They prefer digital platforms.
In another video, generation Z people are described as being different to millennials in that they love creating for platforms.
What this says to me is a digital platform could be more important for football than free-to-air TV. Consider the following calculations.
Last year’s ratings had the A-League attracting roughly a third of the AFL’s audience. Fox paid the AFL $220 million per year for approximately 220 games of three hours duration – that’s $220 million for 660 hours or $333,333 per hour. Football provides 140 games of two hours duration – or 280 hours for $50 million or $178,571 per hour – which is 53 per cent of the AFL’s hourly rate.
Free-to-air TV can blame the FFA if it wants to, but nobody wanted the rights and we got $4 million.
Attempting to tie this together, football’s fan base doesn’t watch free-to-air TV; they watch online platforms, meaning we would be better off on Facebook, Amazon, YouTube or some other digital broadcaster.
The AFL, NRL, rugby union and cricket models that have traditional baby boomer and generation X audiences who are already fixed to their codes do not fit with our fan base. I would go further and the next FFA CEO should be a millennial.
In summary, free-to-air TV does not fit our fan demographic but still has a place in the evolution of football.
Kangajets
Guest
At 45 years old. I must be generation dinosaur. But I don’t own a tv. Just use and iPad to watch gsmes on Foxtel and Netflix. Free to air died about 4 years ago in my house.
AR
Guest
“I honestly believe when we move from hyper negative to hyper positive the metrics will turn as well…” This is a good strategy. Switching to hyper positive...and... ...engage! Wait. Nothing’s happening. The hyperdrive must be broken!
AR
Guest
Yeah. The “I’ve just returned from a 9 year stint in Eastern Europe” was a doozy too. Embarrassing.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Ha! Yeah, it's a challenge for most in the industry I presume! I did actually, earlier this year, start to get long, unskippable ads before watching YouTube. They stopped after a week or two, but it was infuriating for the time.
Nemesis
Guest
Seems to be something that keeps the best tech minds on their toes to fix problems & hack around them! "It seems likely we could get into a war of updates very soon. Google updates services to circumvent ad blocking, and in return ad blockers issue extension updates to override Google’s changes and allow the ads to be blocked again." https://www.geek.com/apps/google-starts-punishing-adblock-users-with-unskippable-youtube-video-ads-1633305/
Nemesis
Guest
Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. As I said, I'm sure there are ways for ads to circumvent the AdBlock. Many news websites I visit will not allow you to see the news story until you turn off the AdBlock on that website by clicking "Pause" or "Whitelist". As I said, if people don't want ads they have to pay for the video. That's how it is with all LIVE sport - it's either Ad Free & paid subscription; or Free To Air with ads. Can't see what all the fuss is about. If you want money coming into your sport, the money doesn't just appear by magic.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Oh, I see now! Foxtel Now is a live stream of what is being shown on regular Foxtel set-ups, on television, right? AdBlock doesn't work with ads that are part of the stream. Ads on most websites are blocked. Pop up ads are blocked. Ads before YouTube videos are blocked, because they're seperate from the actual video content. The Bunning's advertisement you're seeing is literally part of what you're streaming (it's an ad from TV, and the TV is being stream onto your device through FoxtelNow), so cannot be blocked. If AdBlock blocked that ad, they'd have to block the entire stream. I hope you understand what I'm saying :)
Midfielder
Guest
For those interested in what the web submit is about listen to the first 10 or so minutes ... I post this for those on the thread who where questioning the importance of streaming.... hopefully it will be obvious ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSI42Kw22Pw
Nemesis
Guest
Thanks for that information. I already use Ad Block on Google Chrome. Here is a screen capture of Bunnings Advertisement being shown on Foxtel 501 using Google Chrome, with Ad Block. https://photos.app.goo.gl/lGQriI5D5v43wMJn1 Obviously, there are ways for ads to not be affected by AdBlock.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Two more examples! (Had to split my comment in two, otherwise I'd be stuck in moderation hell!) This is a twitter page: https://i.imgur.com/isJGQrn.png And this is a link to The Roar, with the Ad Block software open in the top corner. https://i.imgur.com/BuWc8D4.png There’s no ads visible in those screenshots. I’ve tried my hardest to prove to you it works, and I don’t really care if you believe me.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Sure. It’s called AdBlock. And here’s some proof, of sorts: This is FoxSports: https://i.imgur.com/2HwEDSL.png This is my Facebook (ignore all the black lines, privacy and all that is importrant!) https://i.imgur.com/RYI4Hor.png?2 Two examples of no ads.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Sure. It's called AdBlock. And here's some proof, of sorts: This is FoxSports: https://i.imgur.com/2HwEDSL.png This is my Facebook (ignore all the black lines, privacy and all that is importrant!) https://i.imgur.com/RYI4Hor.png?2 This is a twitter page: https://i.imgur.com/isJGQrn.png And this is a link to The Roar, with the Ad Block software open in the top corner. https://i.imgur.com/BuWc8D4.png There's no ads visible in those screenshots. I've tried my hardest to prove to you it works, and I don't really care if you believe me.
Midfielder
Guest
Nem In my above post I mentioned that gen Z and the M's as a collective don't seem to have the same interest in sport as say the Boomers and Gen X ..... E-Games are huge with this demographic and MC this week appointed an E-Gamer to its squad ... The future will be interesting and personally after watching the web submit I believe it is critical to get broadcasts in a streaming model of some form.
Nemesis
Guest
@Adelaide Docker I'm still waiting for you to kindly reveal the name of your SUPER Ad Blocker that [allegedly] stops all the ads on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter.
Midfielder
Guest
I think the issues pertaining to governance and negative media in hyper driver today with social media in a tail spin as it crashes towards earth .... its no wonder ... I honestly believe when we move from hyper negative to hyper positive the metrics will turn as well...
Nemesis
Guest
Mr AFL is back. Different photo icon. Same Mr AFL snipes.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Clearly the TV ratings are not so important for the A-League. Last year, 61,000 showed up in person to watch the Sydney derby. A couple of weekends ago, 55,000 tuned into a live broadcast of the Sydney derby - and that's on commercial FTA! less than what showed up in person last year. For the sake of comparison, a womens BBL match on at the same time got 9 times the ratings of the Sydney derby, the showpiece of the A-League. But it's ok folks, it doesn't mean anything - ratings do not matter. This football website notes: http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/sydney-derby-smashed-in-television-ratings-by-wbbl/qzsmxxxcin1h1gz2iiy23rs1w SYDNEY DERBY SMASHED IN TELEVISION RATINGS BY WBBL The dwindling interest in the A-League has been evident over the last few weeks with only one game out of the 10 matches in rounds eight and nine cracking a crowd of 10,000-plus.
Redondo
Guest
Northerner, I think we are all probably right. It depends on how you define left-wing e.g. in economic or social terms. It depends on the period of time you refer to e.g. Roosevelt New Deal versus Clinton any time It depends on whether you take account of the innate conservatism of the US as a whole and acknowledge political parties have to balance beliefs against what is achievable. The Democratic Party has 4 or 5 different factions, some more left, some more right, some all over the place. Everything in the US is warped by their fanatical focus on the individual over the collective. That makes their left-wing politics quite different to other western democracies. Regarding Australia, almost all the major economic and social change in Australia in the last 60 to 70 years happened under Labor governments. In crass terms, Whitlam changed Australian society and Hawke/Keating changed the Australian economy. Our Bismarck’s were all lefties.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Fair enough, but I personally wouldn't. I have no need for Foxtel just to watch AFL. And I think you'll find no body is paying for Foxtel exclusively for AFL. These people usually want to watch other programming, or other sports. Also - and this is important - I don't have the means for Foxtel. I can't just organise Foxtel installation in this house, given how I don't own the TV. That's for my parents to do, and they don't want to. I pay $80 odd a year for my AFL live-pass - which doesn't stop ads, but it gives me full replays, ability to watch footy on any device, access to stats and all that. It's not perfect, but I'm happy. I love how having a dissenting opinion to your own makes me "not the brightest spark". Stay classy, Nem!
Nemesis
Guest
"He said, repeatedly, that the current ALeague broadcast deal would/should dispense with FTA. " Utter nonsense. I have NEVER - repeat NEVER - said anything like this. You can have your own opinions. But the poser AR's opinions are premised on ALT-Facts.