Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[waiopehu oldboy]

Likely. Unless they think there's opportunity in opening it up to the likes of NZ.

NZ's biggest telco Spark is launching a sports streaming service (motorsport, euro dive-ball & rugby being the headline content) shortly, $19.99/ month but we'll be paying extra for RWC in terms of which they're talking about a deal with their FTA partner that if the stream falls over at any time it'll be on FTA within 5 minutes.

 

[Omar Comin']

NZ's biggest telco Spark is launching a sports streaming service (motorsport, euro dive-ball & rugby being the headline content) shortly, $19.99/ month but we'll be paying extra for RWC in terms of which they're talking about a deal with their FTA partner that if the stream falls over at any time it'll be on FTA within 5 minutes.

You just know it'll go with 5 minutes left on the clock in a close world cup final.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ luckily the Final will be FTA anyway albeit on "live delay" aka "you won't miss a minute of play but with all the ads we're gunna pack in it'll take us almost three hours to show it"

 

[Crashy]

Fox showing all world cup games in aus. No fta partner announced.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Fox showing all world cup games in aus. No fta partner announced.

Ten has all Wallaby games plus finals

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...games-at-rugby-world-cup-20190309-p512xk.html

 

[Braveheart81]

Hmm.. Fox Sports showing all the RWC games in 4K Ultra HD.

Maybe this year is the time to upgrade my 12 year old TV!

 

[fatprop]

^ luckily the Final will be FTA anyway albeit on "live delay" aka "you won't miss a minute of play but with all the ads we're gunna pack in it'll take us almost three hours to show it"

I now pretty well never watch a game "live" I find watching with a 45 minute lag means you can trundle through ads, the injury breaks & endless scrum resets and end up watching the last few minutes "live"

 

[Dctarget]

I now pretty well never watch a game "live" I find watching with a 45 minute lag means you can trundle through ads, the injury breaks & endless scrum resets and end up watching the last few minutes "live"

Yeah but how are you meant to throw one eyed heated abuse at the ref live on GAGR if you're on a delay?

 

[fatprop]

On all this stuff, I really think investing in FTA is a waste of time, it is dying

If world rugby was smart they would have a localised app for each country with as much streaming content they can load on it. Get a App compatible with the everything and get it done

 

[RugbyReg]

On all this stuff, I really think investing in FTA is a waste of time, it is dying

If world rugby was smart they would have a localised app for each country with as much streaming content they can load on it. Get a App compatible with the everything and get it done

I've been watching a fair bit of rugby streamed by the Rugby Explorer Ap. Does a good job although couldn't google chrome it.

World Rugby actually stream a fair bit of rugby and do a good job.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

On all this stuff, I really think investing in FTA is a waste of time, it is dying

If world rugby was smart they would have a localised app for each country with as much streaming content they can load on it. Get a App compatible with the everything and get it done

I've been a fan of World Rugby looking at something like this for some time. The key thing is to ensure that the app is actually of high quality in order for it to be successfully adopted. But they could have an absolute mountain of content if they did it right. Well, worth the sub.

 

[kiap]

FTA is a waste of time, it is dying

No, the thing that is dying is Big Bundle Pay TV - what will be left is FTA and SVOD.

However, what is also declining is ARPU (average revenue per unit). Subscription take is being crunched.

 

[fatprop]

No, the thing that is dying is Big Bundle Pay TV - what will be left is FTA and SVOD.

However, what is also declining is ARPU (average revenue per unit). Subscription take is being crunched.

FTA is dying, the viewing figures are in free fall, the only way I can get it is on their many separate apps and it is all crap

 

[Strewthcobber]

The a-league's performance on tens multi-chanel has ended any hope of ever seeing Super rugby live on FTA I reckon.

The networks see the dismal ratings and have no interest, and RA can see it has driven absolutely no interest in the sport and isn't worth the loss in revenue from loss of exclusivity with fox and whoever the streamer is

 

[Braveheart81]

No, the thing that is dying is Big Bundle Pay TV - what will be left is FTA and SVOD.

However, what is also declining is ARPU (average revenue per unit). Subscription take is being crunched.

Foxtel has been the most profitable media organisation in the country year by year for a fair while. They may be steadily losing subscribers but I'm not sure that the concept is dying so much.

The market is clearly changing with a shift to SVOD as you said but it does seem like Foxtel's Kayo product is making good headway there (that is clearly just sport).

I agree that FTA will continue to exist everywhere but the ad revenue model is faltering faster than just about anything else. Whilst it will continue to exist I don't think a sport (particularly rugby in Australia that doesn't have the eyeballs to be viable for main channel FTA in prime time outside of the biggest test matches of the year) would be making a good choice to cut their revenue to preference FTA over everything else.

Rugby needs to adapt to the changing market but also can't do it alone and thankfully the broadcasters are also adapting. Broadcast revenue is a critical component of the game's financing and has to continue.

World Rugby and Rugby Australia are certainly ramping up their streaming content and this is happening through streaming things that have little or no commercial value (i.e. 7s where there is no other broadcast and second/third tier matches). Getting the number of viewers up in these areas is important before they could ever think about trying to monetise it with better content.

 

[kiap]

^ I agree with most of that post.

The thing with Kayo, though, is that Foxtel finally, and reluctantly, realised that they had to cannibalise their own legacy business.

Of course, the plan is to make that happen as slow as can be got away with. - Why take less when you can still charge more?

That's why, IMO, there's not going to be a lot of public kayo data in the immediate future. Agglomerated and sliced thin is how to do it - unless there's some kind of leak.

 

[Joe King]

How does league rate on FTA on Friday night? I'm just wondering if that kind of week night time slot makes a difference to FTA viewing as opposed to weekend viewing?

 

[Crashy]

think its rates circa 800k when a good game is on. could be wrong though.

 

[Joe King]

How does league rate on FTA on Friday night? I'm just wondering if that kind of week night time slot makes a difference to FTA viewing as opposed to weekend viewing?

Reason I ask is because I would be interested to know how a sport would go on FTA if it were played on week nights (Wed, Thurs, Fr) at 7:30pm as opposed to over the weekend. Just wondered if that was a good time for FTA viewing for families. Could be an interesting move for a sport to make.

 

[Rebels3]

I always thought if things went to a trans-Tasman comp then Monday nights could be a good option. When the NRL was on it, it was Fox Sports largest viewing program every week. It only got taken away because channel 9 wanted the Thursday night fixture instead.