Saturday afternoon the future?

[bobbruce]

Looking at that how does F1 justify having its own channel. 

[BBR]

Not sure who the games were but those figures look pretty poor for the rugby. Can't see sky wanting to pay us the same next time round. Might as well just get more wrestling on. 

 

People who keep saying that we should seek alternatives. Who exactly?

[Amber Avenger]

1 hour ago, bobbruce said:

Looking at that how does F1 justify having its own channel. 

There were no live races in that sample. They'll get pretty decent ratings on race weekends, but yes it is a bit odd that it's a channel that is only really useful 20 weekends a year. Obviously brings in a lot of subscriptions. 

[JohnM]

To what extent do viewing figures in pubs affect things? Pub subscriptions are not cheap. Advertisers may be attracted to pub viewing figures when making decisons. Sky income doesnt just rely on subscriptions but gets ad income, too.

[Michael1812]

On 16 August 2017 at 6:13 PM, Spidey said:

I'm not sure of the actual benefit of getting games on Main Event

It's  is just a bonus channel when you subscribe to all the channels. I expect the main viewership of this channel are Pubs

You're not increasing the reach as such as everybody who has Main Event will already have all the other channels 

From a Community clubs point of view there's a lot of clubs struggling to attract support - it's even harder when competing against something on TV

i know it happens now with middle 8s & challenge cup. But for a good chunk of the season there isn't that competition 

If your provider is BT, the only channel Sky Sports offer is Main Event. 

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, Michael1812 said:

If your provider is BT, the only channel Sky Sports offer is Main Event. 

Ah didn't know that. Thanks. 

So if you want to Watch RL being a BT subscriber won't help

[Amber Avenger]

23 minutes ago, JohnM said:

To what extent do viewing figures in pubs affect things? Pub subscriptions are not cheap. Advertisers may be attracted to pub viewing figures when making decisons. Sky income doesnt just rely on subscriptions but gets ad income, too.

As far as I know, viewing figures in pubs are not recorded as it's quite hard to get anywhere near accurate data. However I do know the pub audience is important to advertisers as different adverts can be played into pubs - so you may see more adverts for beer at half time in the football watching it in the pub than you would at home. 

[bobbruce]

3 minutes ago, Amber Avenger said:

As far as I know, viewing figures in pubs are not recorded as it's quite hard to get anywhere near accurate data. However I do know the pub audience is important to advertisers as different adverts can be played into pubs - so you may see more adverts for beer at half time in the football watching it in the pub than you would at home. 

Don't pubs have to declare how many people are watching/in the pub whilst games are on. I think Sky employ people whose job it is to go to pubs and checking the declared amount matches the people in the pub. 

[Amber Avenger]

16 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

Don't pubs have to declare how many people are watching/in the pub whilst games are on. I think Sky employ people whose job it is to go to pubs and checking the declared amount matches the people in the pub. 

Sky don't publish viewing figure data, a company called BARB do. Sky I think employ people to check that pubs are showing football through official Sky boxes. Sky may also have conducted independent research into what the estimated pub viewing figures may be, but AFAIK public viewing in pubs/bars/hotels is not included in official viewing figures. 

[Tommygilf]

Having games on main event is important!

[Quinskolar]

When I was a kid all RL was played on a Saturday afternoon. It competed with football and still thrived. Maybe that will be the niche that keeps Sky happy. 

[Manx RL]

On 18/08/2017 at 9:29 AM, bobbruce said:

Don't pubs have to declare how many people are watching/in the pub whilst games are on. I think Sky employ people whose job it is to go to pubs and checking the declared amount matches the people in the pub. 

Lobbygobblers dream job

 

[Mister Ting]

On 17/08/2017 at 10:34 AM, Blind side johnny said:

Yeah, let's uninvent stuff. That would work.

And why not univent stuff that's never been uninventeded? I'm sure Red Hall or wherever, would love that. They might even reinvent the round that hasn't existed before.

Then we could have the hasn't existed before round.

[Tommygilf]

2 hours ago, Quinskolar said:

When I was a kid all RL was played on a Saturday afternoon. It competed with football and still thrived. Maybe that will be the niche that keeps Sky happy. 

Exactly, when sky first came to RL it was largely for content to sell sky boxes, now they want content to sell ad space. Main event on a saturday between the football could be that.

[Tommygilf]

Widnes v London in the qualifiers today is on Main Event and Arena again. Interestingly its first choice rather than the PRO14 union game. Happy days for Saturday RL.

[Gerrumonside ref]

On 18/08/2017 at 7:23 AM, bobbruce said:

Looking at that how does F1 justify having its own channel. 

I think it's not just about viewer numbers, but viewer demographics.

If you can attract a small niche audience that spends more of its disposable income on premium products or generally makes higher value purchases, you've got something valuable to offer advertisers as a broadcaster.