Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[Strewthcobber]

For context, UK rights just for 6 nations is $200m AUD per year.

Obviously, the NC won't be near that, but still....hopefully a good chunk coming our way

 

[Adam84]

Even for the July and November games?

That's a great deal for us.

No, sorry, that was more specific to the 'Finals' themselves.
July and November is where it gets complicated as these are already covered under existing broadcast deals in the local markets at least.

6 Nations teams have only recently started pooling the Autumn Nations Series for broadcasters outside of the 6 Nations markets, and previously SANZAAR have done this for the July matches also, to sell those matches back to the NH broadcasters.

I expect for July and November, the host union will take the gate and revenue from local broadcast deals, with the international rights pooled similarly to the Autumn Nations Series.

 

[Adam84]

I don't really know anything about these negotiations but I would have thought you'd be hoping for 50m+ at a minimum? 35m was a lowball deal at our absolute nadir. We have a few bargaining chips this time round that should also help Stan bring in more subscribers.

that would take rugby back to 2016 levels, the deal for 2016-2020 was $57million AUD a year on average.

Allegedly, prior to COVID-19, RA was seeking $ 60 million a year for 2020-2025. COVID hit, and Foxtel deal was pulled, and the new offer tabled was only $ 20 million. Hence why RA went with Nine/Stan

Those are the rumours, anyway.

 

[Adam84]

Broadcast Revenue over the years pulled from RA Annual Reports..

I'm assuming the 2022 bump in value was in relation to selling the international rights of the England vs Austalia back to UK markets.

 

[Strewthcobber]

that would take rugby back to 2016 levels, the deal for 2016-2020 was $57million AUD a year on average.

This was on the back of a bidding war in the UK (Sky v BT) wasn't it? From memory, they were paying $30 million a year+ to the SANZAR pool, which disappeared in 2021. Foxtel never paid more than something like what Stan is paying now

 

[JRugby2]

so Adam, for better commercials we need more teams? I thought that the initial issue was the length of the season. My support for the idea of more teams probably leads us back to some old themes that may be better left alone.

It's the off season mate we can rehash old debates - it's better than actually working.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Broadcast Revenue over the years pulled from RA Annual Reports..

I'm assuming the 2022 bump in value was in relation to selling the international rights of the England vs Austalia back to UK markets.

The annual report has this interesting statement

The Wallabies series against England in July allowed Rugby Australia to continue to innovate and globalise the commercial program through the use of a parallel advertising LED and virtual pitch branding system. The first rights holder in Australia to use the system, Rugby Australia sold geo-targeted LED and virtual pitch branding to multiple brands around the world, providing different broadcast feeds into these markets, driving a significant increase in revenue from previous seasons and one of the key drivers for the 22% revenue increase in 2022.

 

[JRugby2]

The annual report has this interesting statement
The Wallabies series against England in July allowed Rugby Australia to continue to innovate and globalise the commercial program through the use of a parallel advertising LED and virtual pitch branding system. The first rights holder in Australia to use the system, Rugby Australia sold geo-targeted LED and virtual pitch branding to multiple brands around the world, providing different broadcast feeds into these markets, driving a significant increase in revenue from previous seasons and one of the key drivers for the 22% revenue increase in 2022.

That's a cool product. A lot of Australian brands froth the on field stuff like the LEDs and pitch graphics (especially the one I work for) but we've never previously been pitched this for away tours in the cricket or rugby before.

 

[PhilClinton]

Hi Atko!

Funnily enough - he was a poster on these forums a long long time ago (maybe he still is under another alias). I believe he may have even written a couple of articles in the early days under his real name but one of the admins will have to confirm that.

 

[oztimmay]

Not sure on Atko, but Peter Fairbain used to visit here, back in his Rebels days.

 

[JRugby2]

Might have something to do with the delayed announcements.

9/ Stan becoming more of a big player and less of a Challenger platform every year

 

[Adam84]

That would be a big outlay, the rights for the EPL are worth $65million a year and they have them for another 3 years

 

[Strewthcobber]

It will be interesting to watch this shake out. Will be a bit of an indication of the health of the streaming market here.

$65m a year would mean Stan would need 150k new subscribers, on top of the existing champions league base. There's probably enough Liverpool supporters alone.

Sources familiar with Optus’ financial position said the streaming service loses money under the current Premier League deal. In 2022, Optus began charging its phone and internet customers to watch its content. It increased the monthly subscription for Optus customers by 40 per cent last year to $120 per year. Non-Optus customers pay $24.99 per month.

 

[Derpus]

Streaming is at or passing the point where the old fox sports product was better value from a consumer perspective (or at least it seems that way). If you want to consume more than one sport, that is. Fragmented and expensive.

 

[Slim 293]

That would work nicely for Stan who already have the Champions League...

Is Optus still junk quality?

 

[Derpus]

That would work nicely for Stan who already have the Champions League...

Is Optus still junk quality?

I had it pre data leak fiasco and it was always pretty good quality IMO. Think they had a few issues when there was exceedingly high demand but it was otherwise a good streaming service. Better than Kayo was initially.

 

[PhilClinton]

Streaming is at or passing the point where the old fox sports product was better value from a consumer perspective (or at least it seems that way). If you want to consume more than one sport, that is. Fragmented and expensive.

Yep exactly - you can now get Foxtel for $65 a month with sports and basic entertainment channels. Upgrade to $75 for the movies.

I pay $70 a month just for Kayo and Stan with sports. It’s why I would love a big player like Netflix to Amazon to come in a blow the market up by offering a mainstream Aussie sport included in their basic service, it doesn’t have to be rugby, just anything to make the other providers move that price bracket.

 

[Ignoto]

Is Optus still junk quality?

The app is pretty crap in terms of playback can randomly jump in and out of pixelation.

While Optus claim its 1080p, there is a significant difference between watching a game on Optus vs Stan (European leagues).

Between having Netflix, Amazon, Prime, Stan + Sport and account sharing with my in-laws for Optus and Disney, I would no doubt be paying Foxtel level worth of money a month (circa 2000 levels), I just cannot justify giving Foxtel another dime.

 

[JRugby2]

It's crazy that streaming was once the big disrupter to major cable/ subscription TV - undercutting the market significantly, and yet now about a decade and a bit on - we yearn for the good old days of foxtel

 

[PhilClinton]

It's crazy that streaming was once the big disrupter to major cable/ subscription TV - undercutting the market significantly, and yet now about a decade and a bit on - we yearn for the good old days of foxtel

One of the big disruptions was the on-demand aspect which previously was an additional cost on Foxtel, although the IQ technology was moving in the right direction.

Now even basic Foxtel has a lot of on demand content, including movies.