Rebels V Tahs smashes Super Rugby(Aus) ratings record

[TOCC]

HEY lost heavily to NSW but Melbourne's entry to Super Rugby has still proven a big winner for Australian rugby, with the Rebels' debut game smashing the record for most-watched regular season match in Super Rugby history.

Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill was given extra cause to celebrate an 18-month contract extension yesterday with figures showing the new Super Rugby competition yielded an immediate and dramatic spike in Australian TV ratings.

All three matches featuring Australian teams at the weekend were seen on FoxSports by more people than the highest rating Super 14 match in 2010, and the audience for all seven games was up 51 per cent on last year's round one.

But the biggest shock emerged on Friday night where, according to the OZTAM ratings panel, the Rebels' inaugural game against the Waratahs at AAMI Park had a peak average audience of 319,000 and an average just under 300,000.

Super rugby finals in the past have drawn bigger TV ratings but the Rebels-Waratahs clash was the most watched round-robin match since the tournament began as Super 12 in 1996.

A peak figure of 319,000 is over double the regular audience for Super rugby and is also bigger than the third Bledisloe Cup Test match last year. It would also be in the top five NRL matches on pay-TV last year.

How many curious Melbourne viewers tuned in is uncertain but with NAB Cup games featuring St Kilda, Essendon and Brisbane on the same night on free-to-air TV, the number was "extremely pleasing" to the ARU.

"Having Melbourne on stream was always going to give us a boost," O'Neill said last night. "Melbourne was always the missing link."

But after enduring several tough years in rugby since returning for his second stint as ARU chief executive in 2007, O'Neill refused to get carried away.

"We have to build on that," O'Neill said. "To be brutally honest, that's where we have really fallen down in the last few years. We have shown promise at times but not backed it up week to week."

O'Neill will remain at the ARU until 2014 and says the revival of rugby will depend on a big season of success in 2011.

A sustained increase in ratings could help the ARU re-coup some lost commercial ground by convincing potential sponsors that rugby's market is growing again.

"They're looking at data like crowds, TV ratings and saying, 'rugby hasn't been hitting it spots; we think that's about to change and when it does we will come on board'," O'Neill said.

"In terms of lead and lag effects, we're looking at Super rugby doing well this year with crowds and TV ratings up, Tri-Nations success and World Cup success, I'm hoping that will lay foundations for big gains in 2012, 13 and 14. A rising tide lifts all boats."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...n-ratings-record/story-e6frey4i-1226009680224

Disregarding the hype surrounding the new Rebels side, the Brumbies-Chiefs and NSW-Force game beat the 2010 ratings figures for most watched games..
They are fantastic statistics after the revival in 2010 ratings figures as well..

Even more impressive considering the Reds - Force game was in the unfriendly time-slot of 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon!

 

[DPK]

After a summer of shit performances in the cricket, people were just dying for the footy to come back.

 

[qwerty51]

Eh, first round. And some games were poor quality unfortunately. I hope that doesn't turn some people off.

 

[daz]

After a summer of shit performances in the cricket, people were just dying for the footy to come back.

Peter Fitzsimmons is a clown of the highest order, but his comment 2 weeks ago really hit the target: While tennis and cricket are fine for fun, it is football that truly gets you.

 

[barbarian]

Plus the NRL hasn't started and the NAB cup is more of a joke than usual this year. No cricket and only one or two A-League games, the first week was virtually a sporting vacuum. But great results nonetheless, obviously a product of good marketing and press coverage.

 

[TOCC]

Plus the NRL hasn't started and the NAB cup is more of a joke than usual this year. No cricket and only one or two A-League games, the first week was virtually a sporting vacuum. But great results nonetheless, obviously a product of good marketing and press coverage.

no different to the start of any other super 14 season, the point was that new records were set

 

[Richo]

Turns out derbies are both fun and popular.

There was some cracking rugby in all three games and not much that was dour and boring. Let's hope that keeps the casual punters interested.

 

[TOCC]

ARU has jumped on the bandwagon to spruik the numbers as well...http://rugby.com.au/news/super_rugb...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

When the siren went at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday evening Fox Sports’ audience numbers were up 51% on last year’s Round 1 figures with almost 930,000 unique viewers tuning in to watch all 7 games and experience the excitement of the new expanded Super Rugby competition

This was nearly double the number of unique viewers Super Rugby attracted in round 1 last season when just 590,000 tuned into the start of the 2010 competition.

 

[#1 Tah]

Fantastic news. Can only result in more memberships for both teams

 

[FiveStarStu]

Good to see something got smashed apart from us

 

[waratahjesus]

there still not great numbers by a long long way, but good that they got them anyway, hopefully they can maintain them, once the nrl starts friday night games are a deathpit, hopefully saturdays can keep the viewers.

 

[wamberal]

Any updates?

 

[TOCC]

There has apparently been a 58% increase on rating after 3 rounds...

I expect this to taper off a bit across the season, a 20% increase across the season would be good, anything more would be fantastic.

 

[qwerty51]

Ratings will go down now the NRL has started

 

[Lindommer]

Just found this thread (after my lengthy rugby and wine expedition to Victoria in late February). I find this sprouting of the Rebels/Tahs viewing numbers difficult to believe, I wasn't watching it, I WAS THERE! And 28,000 (give or take a few) of my closest friends. The addition of the Rebels will eventually give us a critical mass in Australia which will end up us being treated as equals by our SANZAR cousins. Playing-wise will always be difficult with competition from AFL and league but we'll be a match for Saffers and Kiwis on the viewing and money fronts in a few years. And luring Macqueen to the Rebels was a masterstroke from big 'arold, or whomever.

On the following Tuesday I went to a wine dinner at South Yarra I was involved in, people there who knew nothing about rugby were rabbitting on about this "new Melbourne team". Honestly, there are times when I think Kerry O'Keeffe got it right: he reckoned you'd get 5,000 to a good game of rock, scissors, paper in Melbourne. Many years before Kerry Noel Kelly scoffed 10,000 Melburnians would turn up for funeral if it was a fine day. I sincerely hope the initial support doesn't wane.

Go the Rebels.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Lindo, calm down and remember who you're supposed to go for....

 

[CanadianRugby]

I heard once that Melbourians will show up for a cockroach race...provided its a world-class cockroach race. Seems to be the case so far.

 

[TOCC]

Ratings will go down now the NRL has started

hence why when the talk about statistics they always compare it to the corresponding period in the previous year, regardless of ratings dropping slightly because the NRL has started, its the overall percentage increase on the corresponding period which matters.

 

[Bruce Ross]

The addition of the Rebels will eventually give us a critical mass in Australia which will end up us being treated as equals by our SANZAR cousins. Playing-wise will always be difficult with competition from AFL and league but we'll be a match for Saffers and Kiwis on the viewing and money fronts in a few years. And luring Macqueen to the Rebels was a masterstroke from big 'arold, or whomever.

Lindommer, your after midnight enthusiasm and optimism is admirable although your call on Macqueen could be premature.

I am hesitant about praising rugby officialdom - it goes against the grain - but the addition of Melbourne plus the new competition format certainly goes some way to removing a major weakness of the competition.

The fact that such a large proportion of games were played in the middle of the night was always a problem for Australian rugby supporters. I make the effort for Waratah games but rarely for any others played in the Republic. South Africans have the advantage of being able to watch offshore games in daylight.

Unfortunately the lack of free to air coverage still remains, greatly restricting the potential support base. Until this is addressed we have no chance of seriously competing with AFL and League.

 

[Scotty]

The middle of the night games are even more of an issue in attracting new rugby supporters. Sports fans in this country expect to be able to watch their team in primetime just about every week. Now there are only two games per team that don't come in this category it will help attract more loyal supporters to the code.