Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[PhilClinton]

I can’t see Super Rugby Pacific being an appealing FTA sport for any network, particularly if it’s only going to feature 4 Australian teams from 2025.

Let’s be honest, if the general sporting public don’t really care about Aussie rugby, they care even less about what’s happening in NZ and even lesser about some mishmash Moana team.

 

[liquor box]

I would love to have a Reds streaming service that funnels money to my team. I would be happy to pay a membership for this and then buy other games that I want to watch.

I watch every Australian derby but have little interest in a game against an NZ team unless the Reds or Brumbies are playing them. I don't know if I have ever watched a full NZ v NZ game, I will watch highlights but not the whole game.

Does RA need Stan? Can they have their own app that is linked to memberships and being offered tickets to test matches?

I hardly watch STAN apart from Rugby, I dont have any interest in their other sports and $30 a month is starting to be too much when I add Disney, Foxtel and Prime (worth it for free delivery).

 

[Adam84]

I’ll watch NRL over

I would love to have a Reds streaming service that funnels money to my team. I would be happy to pay a membership for this and then buy other games that I want to watch.

I watch every Australian derby but have little interest in a game against an NZ team unless the Reds or Brumbies are playing them. I don't know if I have ever watched a full NZ v NZ game, I will watch highlights but not the whole game.

Does RA need Stan? Can they have their own app that is linked to memberships and being offered tickets to test matches?

I hardly watch STAN apart from Rugby, I dont have any interest in their other sports and $30 a month is starting to be too much when I add Disney, Foxtel and Prime (worth it for free delivery).

Startup costs to establish a new SVOD service is well beyond RA. Broadcasters also achieve economies of scales and synergies that bring down production costs to a level RA couldn’t replicate.

It’s almost certain even with the same number of subscribers and subscriptions costs on their own service, RA wouldn’t make as much money given the additional overheads.

 

[Doritos Day]

The FTA component is worth it if it just means they play it without a shit fight at the pub.

It wasn't a shitfight when Foxtel had it. If anything it was the other way, 5pm Kiwi game always got a bit of interest when nothing else was on

 

[John S]

Why? We need eyeballs. We aren’t getting that on a third string channel w no advertising and how many fence sitting fans are buying a sports app that just has rugby?
A niche product on a separate pay to watch app. Not perfect I would says we cater to pure rugby fans. How is it different to the old foxtel (no streaming) in that sense?
Sure production is good, but I’m sure there’s a path to having better production at foxtel.
Biggest issue is the product sucks compared to what afl and nrl offer
I’ve moved back to aus after 8 years overseas and the delta in the quality of the product is enormous with respect to television.
I’ll watch tests but haven’t watched more than a handful of super games. Have Kayo and will watch afl (can’t bring myself to watching league with any regularity)

We weren't getting those eyes on fox either

 

[Adam84]

The only thing Foxtel offered over Stan was more cross-promotion through a wider network of News Corp owned newspapers. Nine just doesn’t have the same market penetration, especially in places like QLD where the only newspaper is a News Corp one.

Besides that, the quality of production in producing and broadcasting the games was shit, it declined in quality over the years and things like the commentators used were only part of the problem.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Starting to think Prime would be a great partner. Fully depends on their interest but I'd think they'd hoover it up for low cost it would be in comparison to others and the immediate content. FTA is a dying/limited platform and there would be so many households with access to Prime already they would have access to Rugby as if it is FTA.

 

[Pone's Mullet]

The only thing Foxtel offered over Stan was more cross-promotion through a wider network of News Corp owned newspapers. Nine just doesn’t have the same market penetration, especially in places like QLD where the only newspaper is a News Corp one.

Besides that, the quality of production in producing and broadcasting the games was shit, it declined in quality over the years and things like the commentators used were only part of the problem.

I would have the games on silent when Kearns and Kafer were droning on

 

[Adam84]

Starting to think Prime would be a great partner. Fully depends on their interest but I'd think they'd hoover it up for low cost it would be in comparison to others and the immediate content. FTA is a dying/limited platform and there would be so many households with access to Prime already they would have access to Rugby as if it is FTA.

FTA may be on the decline comparatively, but it’s still the platform with the widest reach/most access by a significant margin and still going to outlive the next broadcast deal or two, so rugby shouldn't be too hasty about writing it off in the meantime.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

FTA may be on the decline comparatively, but it’s still the platform with the widest reach/most access by a significant margin and still going to outlive the next broadcast deal or two, so rugby shouldn't be too hasty about writing it off for rugby in the meantime.

True. I still want it on there. Especially with no NRL on a Saturday on FTA in this part of the season.

Comparatively I think Amazon offers the next best. People are aware of the cost of STAN and STAN Sport and the rest of the streamers. I bet a majority of people already have a Prime account for other reasons and the ability to watch something is a bonus.

 

[wamberal99]

Starting to think Prime would be a great partner. Fully depends on their interest but I'd think they'd hoover it up for low cost it would be in comparison to others and the immediate content. FTA is a dying/limited platform and there would be so many households with access to Prime already they would have access to Rugby as if it is FTA.

Would they televise club rugby? Would any of the alternatives to STAN bother?

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Starting to think Prime would be a great partner. Fully depends on their interest but I'd think they'd hoover it up for low cost it would be in comparison to others and the immediate content. FTA is a dying/limited platform and there would be so many households with access to Prime already they would have access to Rugby as if it is FTA.

And fox isn’t necessarily the answer and I admit I wasn’t here the last few years so didn’t see how bad it got but I know what eyeor sounded like.
Prime has been great for various sports in NA but haven’t really swung big at anything consistently (Thursday night football etc vs full season of something).
Two years ago DAZN was cream of the crop. One subscription and I got nfl every game, epl, champions league and six nations.

 

[Braveheart81]

We know from years of being on Fox Sports that merely being on a platform that lots of people have access to doesn't have a meaningful impact on ratings.

The concept that there are lots of potential fans out there who will become rugby union fans through channel surfing isn't supported by the evidence.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I expect them to pick up a lot more sport with the re arranging of US College Sports as well. A lot of the conference networks prefer exposure.

Amazon have the Cricket rights for ICC events until 2027 which is a pretty big get for Aus sport.

I really want to know how well Stan Sport does in general. It can't be doing huge numbers although the Soccer may drag in a good number of viewers. Even though a lot do use alternate streaming arrangements you have to personally set up...

 

[Wilson]

Biggest question for Nine/Stan at the moment is how the olympics will work and how much growth can they drive in stan sport subs off the back of that. At the very least it will be big for the visibility of the platform .

 

[LeCheese]

Biggest question for Nine/Stan at the moment is how the olympics will work and how much growth can they drive in stan sport subs off the back of that. At the very least it will be big for the visibility of the platform .

Surely a free tier subscription (with ads) is being considered

 

[Wilson]

Surely a free tier subscription (with ads) is being considered

Yeah, you'd have to think they want to integrate stan into the broadcast even at the free level somehow, with the hope for upgraded subs at the end. Could also be that replays older than a certain amount of time are only available on stan and they run a bunch of extra panel shows or whatever for subscribers. At the very least I expect they'll be looking to utilize the tech backbone to avoid the issues others have had streaming big events in the past.

It's also a 3 tournament deal, so I imagine they have plans to evolve that offering over the course of the 8 years. If nothing else it's probably a good sign for their ongoing investment in stan sport as a platform.

 

[PhilClinton]

Without trying to be a wet blanket, havent the Olympics lost some lustre recently? I feel like with the amount of global sport available for streaming 24/7, people just don’t really care so much about the lesser events.

I wouldn’t be counting on the decathlon, badminton or table tennis to be pumping up Stan Sport subs.

I reckon they’ll just turn GEM into a 24/7 Olympics channel showing the non medal stuff and all the key events will be live on Nine.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Most of the big events are on between 3am and 6am for us in Australia.

Going to be the same story as many big international events here - the time zone kills the commercial possibilities

 

[LeCheese]

Without trying to be a wet blanket, havent the Olympics lost some lustre recently? I feel like with the amount of global sport available for streaming 24/7, people just don’t really care so much about the lesser events.

I wouldn’t be counting on the decathlon, badminton or table tennis to be pumping up Stan Sport subs.

I reckon they’ll just turn GEM into a 24/7 Olympics channel showing the non medal stuff and all the key events will be live on Nine.

Potentially some yes, but the engagement and coverage was still pretty high for the most-recent Tokyo games. Most people I knew were watching it in some capacity, and a related story was nearly always headline news over the period.

From what I remember, I thought 7 did a reasonable job splitting content between their terrestrial and 7Plus channels.