THE Wallabies lost 75 per cent of their audience on free-to-air television inside a month but ARU boss Bill Pulver is confident the nosedive won’t have “any negative impact” on rugby’s next broadcast deal.
Negotiations are underway but the hopes of expanding FTA coverage — with potential Super Rugby exposure — may have taken a hit in recent weeks, however, when initially strong ratings for the Wallabies on Channel Ten fell off a broadcasting cliff. It is due to NRL, AFL finals and also it is not a Bledisloe Cup match.
Channel 7 have thought to have some interest, but Ten remains the front runner to secure the rights to the Wallabies matches and even possibly Super Rugby.
Ten declined to comment on the Wallabies recent figures but the past month shows both the up and downsides of broadcasting rugby to a floating audience (if Fox Sports subscribers are considered rusted-on fans). Namely, there exists both a huge latent market for big games and a very-rapid switch off factor.
Despite the recent nosedive, however, figures show the Wallabies’ FTA ratings are generally respectable, and against trend lines of rival codes, actually bigger than recent seasons.
“The thing you have got to remember is free-to-air networks are now attracted to smaller and smaller audiences because there are so many channels out there and so much content out there, and it’s all happening in an environment where you have this continued fragmentation of media, an acceptable audience ten years ago is very different to what it is today,” Pulver said.
Ten and Seven are believed to be looking at rugby as content for digital channels. Live sport is seen as valuable due to it being one thing that can’t be recorded, and Pulver said even niche audiences could be priced well.
The success of the Waratahs is well-timed for the hopes of fans wanting Super Rugby on FTA, but it could depend on whether a package-deal can be worked out with Fox Sports, who have historically paid a premium for exclusivity. The FFA struck such a deal with Fox Sports to screen one A-League game per week on SBS, with the help of the federal government.
It’s far from a fait accompli, however. Pulver said Super Rugby on FTA was desired “in an ideal world” but stressed the first objective was maximising the “revenue outcome”.
