Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[Brumby Runner]

Badge, you really do have a lot of confidence in the muppets who run FTA here. Just which organisation has shown any interest in broadcasting the rugby? If they thought it was commercially a goer, they would have been in boots and all.

 

[The Honey Badger]

Badge, you really do have a lot of confidence in the muppets who run FTA here. Just which organisation has shown any interest in broadcasting the rugby? If they thought it was commercially a goer, they would have been in boots and all.

It's chicken and egg stuff.

There was no market for AFL in the Northern states 20 years ago, but channel 7 kept broadcasting and look now.

Nearly every news bulletin starts with AFL and rugby lucky to get a mention or is last. Rugby is unknown to the masses because it is hidden behind a pay wall.

Get a long term FTA broadcast deal and results will come.





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[Braveheart81]

There was no market for AFL in the Northern states 20 years ago, but channel 7 kept broadcasting and look now.

It was a product they had the rights to and was hugely popular in the states other than Qld and NSW.

Outside of test rugby, it isn't a product that is popular enough for prime time viewing in NSW and Qld and none of it is popular enough for prime time viewing in the other states.

 

[wamberal]

The VFL was pretty popular way back when, the ABC used to broadcast it in Sydney, it also televised the NSWRFL competition. Oh, and the Shute Shield.


Those were the days, my friend.

 

[RedsHappy]

We keep talking the numbers, and FTA, and more online and and and if only if only if only.

We keep neglecting to talk about the most important matter of all:

How to get the quality of the pro rugby product up from its error-ridden, mostly losing, sloppy and inconsistent quality today.

Until this is fixed for Australian pro rugby all the media strategies and great new innovations in exposure won't matter a hill of beans and, worse still, they'll never happen and why should they.

 

[TOCC]

Well....

A-League has just secure a deal with Network 10 to broadcast FTA prime time.. From Rd1 they will broadcast the Saturday night fixture as well finals and Socceroo friendies...


Just goes to show where there's a will there's a way.. FFA should be commended for doing what the ARU have failed to achieve for the past 2 decades.

 

[The Honey Badger]

Being a proper international sport, there's actually significantly more rugby content over 12 months to support a channel, but in Australia there's not really the interest...

For a large part of the year Fox's AFL and NRL channels are just back to back replays.

There is not much interest in the content currently broadcast on the supplementary digital channels of all the networks. I would suspect ridiculously small numbers.

No one suggesting that there is going to be massive viewing around the clock. Key games will attract a decent audience. Interest will build in SS games.

FTA would help build the interest and that will nourish the game at all levels

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[Strewthcobber]

SBS gets way more viewers than One, which in turn gets better ratings than SBS2.

So they are better off than they have been for the last couple of years but worse off than they were in 2014/15 (from a ratings point of view anyway)

Generally more people watching TV on Friday night when compared with Saturday night too.

Anyway, with those caveats - good on them. They didn't get a s much money as they were hoping for which hasn't pleased the clubs at all, but have a commercial TV partner which should only benefit the game.

“From October this year, 27 home and away Harvey Norman Saturday Night football matches and five Finals – plus Caltex Socceroos matches from next year – will have a new home on free-to-air television. We will provide a consistent timeslot on ONE for 30 weeks of the year, promoting the Hyundai A-League and its best game each week to all of Australia. - See more at: http://www.a-league.com.au/article/...phf6g6mrfew1m28c535u1f42#sthash.IJfOPtl3.dpuf​

Read more at http://www.a-league.com.au/article/...6phf6g6mrfew1m28c535u1f42#TW5I4MEsXDKvXJuv.99​

 

[half]

Well..

A-League has just secure a deal with Network 10 to broadcast FTA prime time.. From Rd1 they will broadcast the Saturday night fixture as well finals and Socceroo friendies.


Just goes to show where there's a will there's a way.. FFA should be commended for doing what the ARU have failed to achieve for the past 2 decades.

Very very very astute post.

At some point in time I hope people realise we have a competition designed and controlled by a US media corporation, whose primary interest is maximising profit during the media deal they have. Not in growing rugby.

AS someone posted re the FFA deal.

Fox pays the bills

10 will grow the game.

 

[Braveheart81]

10 will grow the game.

Did it happen when SBS were showing matches?

I would love for Super Rugby to have a match simulcast on a FTA channel each week but it will clearly rate poorly (as will the A League on One).

Thinking it is some sort of tonic for meaningful growth is wishful thinking in my opinion.

I 100% agree it is good for the A League and FFA. I think a lot of it is good from a PR perspective moreso than any sort of growth it is going to create.

 

[half]

Did it grow the game?

Player numbers exploded, soccer today is seen as far more mainstream.

Soccer gets more inches in papers and time on TV than it ever has before.

Memberships are up, rating are up.

I don't know, did these things happen by chance or because of other factors.

 

[Braveheart81]

Did it grow the game?

Player numbers exploded, soccer today is seen as far more mainstream.

Soccer gets more inches in papers and time on TV than it ever has before.

Memberships are up, rating are up.

I don't know, did these things happen by chance or because of other factors.

I think most would attribute growth in soccer participation in Australia over recent years to the success of the Socceroos in appearing at World Cups and winning the Asian Cup that we hosted.

I think it is very difficult to attribute growth in soccer participation in recent years to one game a week of A Leaugue on SBS2 which wasn't watched by many people.

Likewise, whilst it would be good for Australian rugby to have some Super Rugby on FTA, I think expecting any measurable growth out of it would be wishful thinking.

 

[RedsHappy]

Did it happen when SBS were showing matches?

I would love for Super Rugby to have a match simulcast on a FTA channel each week but it will clearly rate poorly (as will the A League on One).

Thinking it is some sort of tonic for meaningful growth is wishful thinking in my opinion.

I 100% agree it is good for the A League and FFA. I think a lot of it is good from a PR perspective moreso than any sort of growth it is going to create.

I totally agree BH with your essential point above.

Has having Wallaby matches live on Ch10 SD and HD materially driven up viewership numbers for this product on Ch10? I don't think so. Why? - almost certainly, too many abject Wallaby losses to the teams Aussies care about most, the ABs, England, etc. And in the case of the ABs, almost all hope of a Bled win has totally drained away - this is having a major impact IMO.

We have to get a good-enough, consistent-enough domestic competition alive and well coupled with major increases in the quality and w-l rates of our pro teams before there will be even one skerrick of new interest from FTA (or other PayTV sources) in doing anything more with Aus rugby than it's currently doing.

All other suggestions to the contrary are just us projecting our own personal rugby-loving motivations wistfully and irrationally onto others; namely, as we like watching lots of rugby and think it's marvellous, so will many more people 'if only the TV or XX media exposure was better'.

 

[kiap]

Has having Wallaby matches live on Ch10 SD and HD materially driven up viewership numbers for this product on Ch10? I don't think so.

Let me ask you this question.

If Wallaby matches are taken off FTA, and left exclusively on Pay TV, …

… What will happen to your "viewership numbers for this product"?

 

[TOCC]

I think most would attribute growth in soccer participation in Australia over recent years to the success of the Socceroos in appearing at World Cups and winning the Asian Cup that we hosted.

I think it is very difficult to attribute growth in soccer participation in recent years to one game a week of A Leaugue on SBS2 which wasn't watched by many people.

Likewise, whilst it would be good for Australian rugby to have some Super Rugby on FTA, I think expecting any measurable growth out of it would be wishful thinking.

SBS isn't a commercial network, channel 10 will at least offer cross promotion across its other channels which have a significantly larger market share then SBS. Awareness and exposure to the product will increase, through cross promotion and economies of scale that SBS can't replicate.

 

[Braveheart81]

SBS isn't a commercial network, channel 10 will at least offer cross promotion across its other channels which have a significantly larger market share then SBS. Awareness and exposure to the product will increase, through cross promotion and economies of scale that SBS can't replicate.

Is this really true? SBS is limited in the amount of advertising they can show and in my experience promote their own shows a lot.

FTA main channels are allowed to show an average of 13 minutes of non program content an hour between 6pm and midnight (mix between ads and self-promotion up to them) and 15 minutes at other times.

SBS are allowed to show 5 minutes of ads per hour during prime time and 120 minutes per day.

Generally shows are made to fit into slots with ads. SBS has more time to fill in each hour with non-ad content.

 

[TOCC]

Is this really true? SBS is limited in the amount of advertising they can show and in my experience promote their own shows a lot.

FTA main channels are allowed to show an average of 13 minutes of non program content an hour between 6pm and midnight (mix between ads and self-promotion up to them) and 15 minutes at other times.

SBS are allowed to show 5 minutes of ads per hour during prime time and 120 minutes per day.

Generally shows are made to fit into slots with ads. SBS has more time to fill in each hour with non-ad content.

Yes it's true. SBS can promote their own shows all day but lack market penetration to really make it of any value. Network 10 has a market share 300% greater then SBS, despite this SBS and One have similar ratings, however the big different will be the boost through cross promotion on Chanel 10 to a significantly larger market share which SBS can't offer.

 

[Braveheart81]

Yes it's true. SBS can promote their own shows all day but lack market penetration to really make it of any value. Network 10 has a market share 300% greater then SBS, despite this SBS and One have similar ratings, however the big different will be the boost through cross promotion on Chanel 10 to a significantly larger market share which SBS can't offer.

Amount of cross promotion and reach of cross promotion are two different things though.

Channel 10 are clearly showing their cross promotion to more people but SBS are doing more of it.

I guess proof will be in the pudding of what sort of ratings the A League games get on One next season.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Likewise, whilst it would be good for Australian rugby to have some Super Rugby on FTA, I think expecting any measurable growth out of it would be wishful thinking.

Exactly, BH. The problem is the quality of rugby being played by the Aus Super Rugby sides. TV coverage, whether Fox or FTA, won't improve that, but might reasonably be expected to contribute to the downwards spiral of attendances as the poor quality is more widely exposed.

 

[Braveheart81]

Exactly, BH. The problem is the quality of rugby being played by the Aus Super Rugby sides. TV coverage, whether Fox or FTA, won't improve that, but might reasonably be expected to contribute to the downwards spiral of attendances as the poor quality is more widely exposed.

I don't think it's necessarily just down to that.

If the Crusaders and Hurricanes were Aussie teams playing brilliant rugby and you were showing some of their matches on FTA I still don't think it would capture the random punter's attention.

There is no doubt that the quality of rugby at the top end of Super Rugby is brilliant but there isn't the gravitas that makes it gripping for a casual viewer like test rugby does.

In many instances I think the event outweighs the actual substance in terms of drawing casual fans in.