Super Rugby Television Ratings 2014

[Muglair]

You have to take your hats off to the soccer guys, they have really delivered increased crowds and TV numbers compared to a couple of years ago.

An SMH report was talking up the RL but still noted that the event did not have the historical significance of a Bledisloe. Interesting perspective, I think they are good numbers for the RL double header but showing just how short of its potential RU is probably is at the moment.

 

[qwerty51]

It was interesting that two soccer games were televised live last night, pretty much simultaneously.

They were for different competitions.

 

[barbarian]

I was thinking about this today.

What the A-League do very well is put their big games at the start of the season when they are more or less the only game in town. We've got the Melbourne derby, the Sydney derby, a Victory/Sydney game etc.

And the crowds are great, because these are the big ticket games and they are all that is on.

Jump forward a month or two and the picture never looks as rosy. Cricket has started so that draws focus. A number of teams are losing or playing badly, so the interest of those areas starts to subside. And we're past the derby games (for now) so we get a bit more into the non-traditional rivalries, which never draw the same crowds.

It's not unique to 2014, it has happened for the past four or five years, and the story is the same every year: 'A-League Juggernaut Rolls On'. But by seasons end the numbers never back it up- still some franchises average under 10,000 crowds.

Sydney FC (the A-League's glamour big-ticket team) averages about the same crowd as the perennially underperforming, friendless Tahs, who also have to compete with League and AFL. And FC have the derby which is guaranteed to get 40-odd thousand.

At the end of the day I still don't reckon rugby is a competitor to the A-League, simply due to season timing. They don't really steal crowds from anyone. As for juniors, well soccer has always dominated that anyway, and the popularity of the A-League doesn't really change that IMO.
.

 

[qwerty51]

The notion that soccer is 3rd over rugby comes from the RL journos rather than the soccer ones, always an agenda there.

Agree there's no competition anyway.

Anyway to found out the ratings for the ITM Cup final?

 

[Braveheart81]

The two major drawing games in terms of a live crowd were the Melbourne derby and the Sydney derby.

Having David Villa playing for Melbourne drew bigger crowds to some other games with people wanting to see a genuine star.

As evidenced by the TV audiences, the major spike in live attendance for a couple of specific matches is not in any way backed up by a spike in interest on TV around the country.

 

[Ash]

Anyone have the ratings for the NRC semis on Fox?

 

[Strewthcobber]

Anyone have the ratings for the NRC semis on Fox?

Neither match cracked the top 20 programs - so less than 42k for Friday and 50k for Saturday.

The normally reliable @mediaweekaus doesn't seem to be tweeting about the NRC, so we may struggle to get any numbers

 

[Ash]

That's a worry, unfortunately. Can't imagine that Fox are enamoured with the viewership. While I think that the NRC ratings would likely be beating anything else Fox Sports may show at the same time, whether they are getting their money's worth is another question.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Yep NRC just does not have a profile - hardly anything mentioned in sports pages....and just not much marketing around this....so not surprising not rating highly on Fox......

Would love to see ratings trend to see if any improvement to show at least building some awareness and going in right direction....

 

[wamberal]

Yep NRC just does not have a profile - hardly anything mentioned in sports pages..and just not much marketing around this..so not surprising not rating highly on Fox..

Would love to see ratings trend to see if any improvement to show at least building some awareness and going in right direction..

Too early and too little data for any trend data to mean anything much, I would guess. AKAIK, every single game televised produced crappy ratings.

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

The notion that soccer is 3rd over rugby comes from the RL journos rather than the soccer ones, always an agenda there.

Agree there's no competition anyway.

Anyway to found out the ratings for the ITM Cup final?

You're kidding yourself if you still think rugby is third.

 

[qwerty51]

Why? Super Rugby ratings are higher than A-league despite being up against AFL and NRL. A-league ratings are a joke for a so-called code on the rise and having nothing to compete against. Outside the derbies the crowds aren't anything to crow about either.

 

[Highlander35]

Is there a reason no one counts Cricket? Because that would pretty much push all comers down one.

 

[p.Tah]

Is there a reason no one counts Cricket? Because that would pretty much push all comers down one.

Yes, those ratings are very high, but it's not really a competitir to rugby. The One day domestic final yesterday on GEM was about 150k.
Big Bash on TEN ranges 500-800k
Test matches on nine are 1M plus.

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

Why? Super Rugby ratings are higher than A-league despite being up against AFL and NRL. A-league ratings are a joke for a so-called code on the rise and having nothing to compete against. Outside the derbies the crowds aren't anything to crow about either.

Caution long hard miserable truth ahead.


You've only compared the two professional leagues with each other and not the sports as a whole. Football (Soccer) is more than just the A-League just as Rugby is more than Super Rugby.

A-League has 9 teams across the country and will probably add another 2 teams in 2018, Super Rugby only has 5 and only 1 each in it's main Cities. A-League clubs can potentially play up to around 40 games a year between regular season, Playoffs, FFA Cup and Asian Champions League games. Super Rugby ratings and crowds would probably drop substantially if they played more than they do now which isn't much.

Super Rugby ratings are barely any better than A-League but A-League still has a superior TV deal with FTA and far more flexibility in scheduling matches. Fox Sports pays the ARU 15m for all Rugby games in Australia. Fox and SBS pay 40m for A-League and Socceroos Friendlies, with Socceroos competitive games like World Cup Qualifiers not allowed to be sold by the FFA.

This is all off course before you get to the huge interest in foreign football leagues and grassroots games which we all know the latter is a shambles in Rugby. Rugby has nothing of note compared to the NPL or FFA Cup, let alone playing numbers. Nor would rugby sell out the MCG or ANZ Stadium for the visit of a foreign team.

It's not great as a rugby fan but there is no point pretending it's still 2003.

 

[qwerty51]

You completely ignored domestic rugby Tests.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Neither match cracked the top 20 programs - so less than 42k for Friday and 50k for Saturday.

The normally reliable @mediaweekaus doesn't seem to be tweeting about the NRC, so we may struggle to get any numbers

The final on Saturday didn't crack the top 20 either, so less than 51k.

Beaten (easily) by the cricket and a Perth-Newcastle a-league match. Pretty disappointing result.