Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[Dctarget]

I think there is genuine opportunity to play the next iteration of the NRC/Club championship or whatever it is going to be, on weeknights.

Play games Tuesday - Thursday nights, have the Rugby Championship and Spring Tour on the weekends, and the 'game of the round' on Sunday afternoon or something to attract a bigger crowd/audience.

That sounds pretty tasty PC. I would like that a lot, not sure my girlfriend would.

 

[PhilClinton]

That sounds pretty tasty PC. I would like that a lot, not sure my girlfriend would.

Yes I know the feeling, I like to absorb as much as sport as possible, during these last few months Big Bash has been playing in the background on my tv most nights. I'm not sure how thrilled my partner will be if they start streaming a weeknight sport which I have an even bigger investment in!

 

[Dctarget]

Yes I know the feeling, I like to absorb as much as sport as possible, during these last few months Big Bash has been playing in the background on my tv most nights. I'm not sure how thrilled my partner will be if they start streaming a weeknight sport which I have an even bigger investment in!

What does it do to crowd numbers with the BBL? I'm trying to work out if I'm more likely to drive to a Melbourne Rising match on a Tuesday night or a Sunday afternoon.

 

[Adam84]

BBL is played during school holidays mostly, so crowds aren’t too bad. Pretty sure the crowds drop off once school returns

 

[PhilClinton]

What does it do to crowd numbers with the BBL? I'm trying to work out if I'm more likely to drive to a Melbourne Rising match on a Tuesday night or a Sunday afternoon.

Hard to compare the crowds for a BBL game and a potential mid-week rugby comp. Mostly because all the BBL games are played in the larger stadiums and I don't think that's the market the rugby guys would be looking at.

I think you'd have better luck getting punters to attend a Tuesday night game at a local club ground. It's a commute many of the main supporters have been making twice a week anyway for their training sessions. In Brisbane's case, you could save Ballymore for the Sunday clashes or finals.

At the end of the day it is also about television ratings and exposure. A rugby tournament being played mid-week through September - Nov doesn't really have anything competing with it sports wise, and arguably the general television on that time of year is starting to head to the back catalogue. Even the BBL and NBL start later.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I think there is genuine opportunity to play the next iteration of the NRC/Club championship or whatever it is going to be, on weeknights.

Play games Tuesday - Thursday nights, have the Rugby Championship and Spring Tour on the weekends, and the 'game of the round' on Sunday afternoon or something to attract a bigger crowd/audience.

They use to have nrc games mid week - I think they need to be both mid week and on weekend

 

[Dan54]

They use to have nrc games mid week - I think they need to be both mid week and on weekend

NPC used to be played with midweek games, just to fit all the games in. Made it tough on the weeks when a team played 3 games in 8 days or so. I liked seeing games mid week. Players said the games were so often they actually weren't training that much and quite enjoyed it up to a point.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Hard to compare the crowds for a BBL game and a potential mid-week rugby comp. Mostly because all the BBL games are played in the larger stadiums and I don't think that's the market the rugby guys would be looking at.

I think you'd have better luck getting punters to attend a Tuesday night game at a local club ground. It's a commute many of the main supporters have been making twice a week anyway for their training sessions. In Brisbane's case, you could save Ballymore for the Sunday clashes or finals.

At the end of the day it is also about television ratings and exposure. A rugby tournament being played mid-week through September - Nov doesn't really have anything competing with it sports wise, and arguably the general television on that time of year is starting to head to the back catalogue. Even the BBL and NBL start later.

That's something I've been keen to see from a NRC type competition for a while. Could even use it to get Wallabies into shape before heading off to Europe in November.

 

[spikhaza]

I can't be the only person that finds the BBL to be a dopamine-draining no narrative wank

 

[dru]

I can't be the only person that finds the BBL to be a dopamine-draining no narrative wank

Not the only one, no.

 

[Dan54]

I can't be the only person that finds the BBL to be a dopamine-draining no narrative wank

No mate you not alone, and the one we got in NZ is exactly the same in my opinion!

 

[Adam84]

Averages about 300k a game so they must be doing something right.

Not a massive cricket fan, but I prefer the cricket over the other crap on tv though.

 

[Rob42]

I can't be the only person that finds the BBL to be a dopamine-draining no narrative wank

Well, I'm guessing you're not under 18 years of age, in which case, the BBL doesn't really care if you watch it. It's been pretty effective in drawing in a new generation of younger fans and their parents.

 

[Adam84]

Tried finding the breakdown of age groups, but since they've gone to Foxtel Oztam dont have access to that data.

I noticed the A-League had 58k on Saturday night, on Channel 10's primary channel. Looking back the last few weeks seems like ratings have been similar which are pretty woeful for the primary channel. Wonder how long before Ch 10 bumps it to a secondary channel.

 

[Adam84]

A company called YouGov did a survey over the summer of sporting preferences, small sample size but indicative nonetheless:

 

[Pfitzy]

Always good to have stats.

A follow up question that would interest me: are you involved in the sport you love?

It occurs to me that if you got half of that ~2% involved in playing, volunteering, or refereeing, then the overall health of the game improves.

 

[PhilClinton]

Anyone find it funny that Rugby Union's highest rated state is TAS?

Is the 'none of the above' supposed to imply the people surveyed simply don't enjoy sports? Or would they have nominated something in an other category. I am surprised basketball didn't make the list.

 

[Dan54]

Sorry fellas , all that tells me that 98% of Aussues are not very bright.
I mean we all know that Rugby has to be the thinking man's (or woman's) game!!
No wonder me and WOB had to return home

 

[Braveheart81]

Sunday afternoon games are some of the highest rating for the NFL, Sunday afternoon football is a bit of an institution in the US.

prime time is important because that’s the maximum potential viewers available, but it’s also when there’s the greatest competition from other sports and tv shows.

Watching your football team at 1pm on Sunday is a ritual in the US.

You then get the nationally televised games in prime time on Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night.

The similar thing for us would be club rugby all being at 3pm on a Saturday. Similarly Rugby League used to play almost all their games at 3pm on Sunday. They generally had two Saturday games (an afternoon and an evening game) and a Friday night game. They've obviously split away from having games on concurrently and now have (with some variation) 1x Thursday night game, 2x Friday night games, 3x Saturday games and 2x Sunday games. None of the games tend to overlap.

Largely our ritual around test rugby is that they are on Saturday night (wasn't always that way but it has been for a long time now). In general I think we should keep that.

I agree with some other posts that doing some things midweek makes sense particularly when we are talking about games with low audiences to begin with so trying something different isn't much of a risk if it doesn't play out well.

The French series being partly midweek was good but was predicated by needing to squeeze three tests into two weeks. I'm not sure you'd sacrifice three consecutive Saturday nights (with possible an afternoon game for one of them) in a normal year. Would you have the series on three consecutive Wednesday nights? Potentially. No one will want to do three tests in two weeks without being forced to.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I wonder how the popularity of rugby has changed over time? I'd imagine it's at a low ebb right now but I'm hoping that some good performances at the elite level and spreading the gospel among juniors will lift the profile a bit.