Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[PhilClinton]

It is interesting how we have made the women's sevens team so inaccessible.

Their Rio gold medal match is probably the most watched rugby match in Australia in the last 20 years, since the WC final, probably the second most watched game here ever, and there are probably fewer people watching the 7s team here now than there were then

There is probably a degree of overexposure now to be honest or maybe call it winners fatigue.

They have great social media coverage and honestly, I think most fans expect them to win all their games. Sevens also has the benefit/detriment of being very easily digestible in short format. I know a lot of fans who would never bother watching the games at weird times but know they can quickly jump on social media and what a pretty decent game highlight/wrap-up reel the next day.

The Rio gold medal match had an element of history behind it.

 

[D-Box]

I think the problem with the sevens is it doesn't work well for free to air. Rugby fans have Stan and will watch there and they way they have cut it can pick any game to watch.

Ideally you could run the 6 Aussie pool games in a block on replay on Sundays but that is already around 2 hours and fails to draw the kiwi fans or casuals who have heard about Fiji.

Then you semis/finals replay would be on Monday night where free to air are not looking for sport.

Nine don't want to run catch up on NineNow as that takes away from the paid model of Stan.

Nine are also not going to even broadcast the Australian tournament as they are showing the Aussie Open Tennis on the same weekend. They are not going to compete against themselves for casual sports eyeballs, particularly as there is usually cricket on the Australia Day weekend as well

 

[RebelYell]

The inability to capitalise on the Rio gold, and the fast-paced and fun game of sevens in the 'snackable' era - alongside the rise of women's sports - is one of the more disappointing things Rugby AU have overseen over the last decade. Tell me you really want to watch NRLW, AFLW or SRW ahead of Women's 7s? It's far, far better to watch and the players are fully professional and relatable.

 

[wamberal99]

The inability to capitalise on the Rio gold, and the fast-paced and fun game of sevens in the 'snackable' era - alongside the rise of women's sports - is one of the more disappointing things Rugby AU have overseen over the last decade. Tell me you really want to watch NRLW, AFLW or SRW ahead of Women's 7s? It's far, far better to watch and the players are fully professional and relatable.

And every game is over in 15 minutes. Then what?

 

[dru]

And every game is over in 15 minutes. Then what?

At the Olympics, isnt that issue pretty much most of everything? Swimming is 25s to 15min. Athletics up to 10,000m is around 25min. I dare say that as a football code/season you have a point, but the Olympics is a bit different.

In 7s wouldn't you watch the round?

btw, the on the bad time slot thing, doesn't that effect the Maltildas as well?

 

[Strewthcobber]

btw, the on the bad time slot thing, doesn't that effect the Maltildas as well?

The Matildas have had 18 games at prime-time slots in the last 2 years.

Their Olympics games are on at 3am, so we will get to see if that has an impact

 

[Slim 293]

I'm surprised our Women's 7's and XV teams are not more popular, because apparently...

A lot is feminists jumping on it because they are women.

 

[wamberal99]

At the Olympics, isnt that issue pretty much most of everything? Swimming is 25s to 15min. Athletics up to 10,000m is around 25min. I dare say that as a football code/season you have a point, but the Olympics is a bit different.

In 7s wouldn't you watch the round?

btw, the on the bad time slot thing, doesn't that effect the Maltildas as well?

Yeah, but how many teams do you need to fill up an afternoon, or evening? 10 would be a minimum, and bear in mind that there will have to be gaps between games, especially when it comes to the semis, and especially the final. What happens?

 

[Mr Pilfer]

Yeah, but how many teams do you need to fill up an afternoon, or evening? 10 would be a minimum, and bear in mind that there will have to be gaps between games, especially when it comes to the semis, and especially the final. What happens?

You sound like you have never actually watched a sevens tournament before?
The games are continuous, back to back all day. The entertainment factor is non-stop. The Perth sevens was one of the best sporting events I have been too in terms of entertainment and there were a lot of non-rugby supporters there

 

[PhilClinton]

You sound like you have never actually watched a sevens tournament before?
The games are continuous, back to back all day. The entertainment factor is non-stop. The Perth sevens was one of the best sporting events I have been too in terms of entertainment and there were a lot of non-rugby supporters there

I agree with all of the above for international world stage tournaments.

Have you attended an amateur carnival?

I've gone along to many in my time, here in QLD we host some great ones and the standard really varies. Some of the teams come stacked with current Aussie players looking for more games (both men and women) whilst others are genuinely amateur and run around like headless chooks.

It makes for frustrating watching when some teams get pumped in every game and the whole tournament is really only between one or two teams. The sevens game lends itself to blow out scorelines if the opposition aren't up to scratch and it makes boring viewing across a whole day.

In my opinion.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think this comes back to some of the previous comments that Rugby Australia has failed to capitalize on the Aussie women's 7s team.

What exactly should they have done? The whole format of 7s makes it impossible for a particular team to be a standalone drawcard.

Participations in girls and women's 7s has increased substantially from what I understand. Growth there would seem to be the main benefit that is able to be gained from their success.

 

[wamberal99]

You sound like you have never actually watched a sevens tournament before?
The games are continuous, back to back all day. The entertainment factor is non-stop. The Perth sevens was one of the best sporting events I have been too in terms of entertainment and there were a lot of non-rugby supporters there

Mate I have been watching Sevens since 1976, when I moved to Hong Kong, and have probably seen more Sevens than you have had hot breakfasts.

I can remember watching the Middlesex Sevens back in 1970 or so.

Obviously a two day tournament is a totally different thing. We cannot have many of those during the season, and they have to involve top class international sides to be attractive to broadcasters.

 

[half]

I think this comes back to some of the previous comments that Rugby Australia has failed to capitalize on the Aussie women's 7s team.

+9999999999999 to the power of 99999999999

Just going to frame this as best as I can, but just maybe the guy in charge of Football Australia, read the room perfectly when he got together with Disney to make a doco about the Matilda's prior to the World Cup.

He has played the benefits they received cleverly since and according to the Australian is on the verge of a 200 million dollar deal with 10, a big lift from the previous 90 million dollar deal. As most know these sit outside the A-League which is in some troubled waters.

The ABC female journalist, and other female journalist just totally backed this team not because of the sport so much its because what they stood for.

It could have been Rugby, he did some very simple things, like stopped calling the national competitions the A-League for men and W-League for women. He said its all the A-Leagues making the womens competition equal in status to the mens.

Women are going to play an increasing role in sports watching in the future and the SOO womens game is now huge, and AFLW also becoming bigger each year.

We have allowed League and AFL to stroll past us and not kept pace with Football. Never forget the rise of Netball as well in all this.

 

[Derpus]

I think this comes back to some of the previous comments that Rugby Australia has failed to capitalize on the Aussie women's 7s team.

What exactly should they have done? The whole format of 7s makes it impossible for a particular team to be a standalone drawcard.

Participations in girls and women's 7s has increased substantially from what I understand. Growth there would seem to be the main benefit that is able to be gained from their success.

Used it as a launching pad for a properly funded 15s side perhaps.

 

[Wilson]

I think this comes back to some of the previous comments that Rugby Australia has failed to capitalize on the Aussie women's 7s team.

What exactly should they have done? The whole format of 7s makes it impossible for a particular team to be a standalone drawcard.

Participations in girls and women's 7s has increased substantially from what I understand. Growth there would seem to be the main benefit that is able to be gained from their success.

Yeah, as nice as it would've been to get more out of it, it's difficult to see what else they could've done, particularly given no one in world rugby seems quite sure how to make the most of sevens.

They even stood up a whole national domestic competition for women's 7s in the AON uni 7s. Maybe if it had survived covid and made it through to the Tokyo Olympics it would've been a different story, but I'm still not aware of anyone effectively marketing 7s below the international level.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Used it as a launching pad for a properly funded 15s side perhaps?

I just can't think what would be the mechanism for that?

The Sevens teams can be pro because of the Olympic funding from the government. And while they are amazing performers, it still a very niche sport on Stan played at weird hours.

The key to it all is having enough revenue to have full time pros. And as long as our Super Rugby teams keep bleeding money, we don't have that in rugby.

 

[Derpus]

I just can't think what would be the mechanism for that?

The Sevens teams can be pro because of the Olympic funding from the government. And while they are amazing performers, it still a very niche sport on Stan played at weird hours.

The key to it all is having enough revenue to have full time pros. And as long as our Super Rugby teams keep bleeding money, we don't have that in rugby.

Yeah dunno lol. Seems like a lot of other sports have successfully leveraged the enormous growth in women's sport.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Yeah dunno lol. Seems like a lot of other sports have successfully leveraged the enormous growth in women's sport.

Othe sports have successfully leveraged the popularity of their male sports to fund the women to a pro level so that they can be popular in their own right (with notable exceptions, eg netball).

Even soccer's professionalism is somewhat built on os clubs

 

[redstragic]

I'm surprised our Women's 7's and XV teams are not more popular, because apparently...

A lot is feminists jumping on it because they are women. I know heaps of women who never watched sport get on it. Hopefully for the sake of female sport they remain committed

I watched the Matildas and had no idea who were feminists jumping on the bandwagon and who were traditional supporters. I am not a regular watcher of the Matildas but love that they are doing well and are so competitive in a global game. They have come a long way from that calendar they did to help with funds. This current crop of Matildas, all pro players, would probably say they are standing on the shoulders of those who previously wore the shirt. I guess that is what progress is. There is a story behind it all too buy into.

I also watched The Test series and it got me hooked on Aussie cricket again, I love Cummins. It is what the series set out to do though, re introduce us to them after the sandpaper scandal.

Sport is more than the performance on the field, it is the story of it we buy into. The doco Oz rugby did for the world cup doesn't help us, Eddie took up all the space being a deluded dick. Hope they do it again this year and give us a story we can buy into with the Lions and the World cup coming.

Just my take, but I am a feminist.

 

[Derpus]

Othe sports have successfully leveraged the popularity of their male sports to fund the women to a pro level so that they can be popular in their own right (with notable exceptions, eg netball).

Even soccer's professionalism is built on os clubs

Yeah so use the popularity of the women's sevens and the funding from the Men's game to launch a 15s game that eventually becomes self sustaining.