Vodacom Bulls: Top the scoreboard off the fieldAccording to leading sports researchers BMI, the boys in blue lead off the field too in terms of being the most watched Super Rugby team this year. Add to that a 300% growth in Facebook followers as well as over 10 000 Twitter fans and it’s safe to say that the Pretoria based side is having the season of their lives.
The popularity of South Africa’s most successful Super Rugby franchise is evident not just by home crowd attendances or jersey sales but also in television audience ratings. With an estimated 9 644 000 rugby supporters in South Africa, the Vodacom Bulls boast the highest number of supporters compared to the other franchises. Fast approaching the 3 million supporter mark, the Vodacom Bulls has positioned itself as a family brand and has mass appeal across all race, gender and age groups. 49% of its supporter base are Black, while 32% account for the White population, 17% are Coloureds and 2% Indians. The Vodacom Bulls also proudly boast the country’s youngest supporter profile of 42% under the 35-year age group.
When studying television audiences, it’s the same popular rugby franchise that comes out tops. Having monitored 73 games broadcast from February until May on SuperSport 1, the Vodacom Bulls top the charts with an average match day audience of 535 744. The highest audience figures were recorded on March 31st when the DHL Stormers hosted the Vodacom Bulls at the DHL Newlands Stadium. Despite the defeat the 2010 Super 14 champions could be well proud of the 770 000 viewers that tuned in to the Channel of Champions – more than a quarter of a million more viewers above the average Super Rugby viewership for local derbies.
Two weeks later, the Pretoria based side thrashed their neighbours the MTN Lions 32 – 18 and again attracted television audiences well above the average. This particular match rated second in terms of viewership figures amongst local teams with a total audience of 584 200, which is 154 000 more viewers than the MTN Lions would typically expect.
The Vodacom Bulls also dominated the next category featuring local teams against their New Zealand and Australian counterparts. Playing against the Brumbies, Reds, Crusaders and Blues, the Vodacom Bulls dominated the top four spots with an average of 614 725 viewers per game – over 150 000 more viewers on average than any of our local teams playing against an Australian or New Zealand team.
In this category, the team’s highest audience figure was 671 830 for their match against the Brumbies on April 21st, 208 618 more than the overall average. Their fixture against defending champions the Reds on March 24th occupied second spot with a total viewership of 612 826, which was 149 7614 more than the overall average.
A quick comparison to the other South African franchises for the period February to May 2012, revealed that the Vodacom Bulls games are ahead of its competitors by between 78 478 to 199 917 viewers per match. The average for nine Vodacom Bulls games for this period was 535 744, which was 78 478 higher than second highest, the Stormers with 457 266. The Lions were not far off the Cape side with an average of 429 257, while the Sharks (392 816) and the Cheetahs (335 827) didn’t reach the 400 000 mark.
Added to the successful television audiences, is the recent growth of the team’s social media platforms. Having recently increased their presence on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, the results are something to ride home about with a 300% growth on Facebook. Twitter is just as impressive with over 10 000 fans signing up.
With three Super Rugby titles under their belt and renowned worldwide as the most successful S.A. Super 14 team in history with three titles out of five, the Vodacom Bulls have set the benchmark both on and off the field of play.
