RL Viewing figures

[Dave T]

Constantly hearing that we are in a weak position and heading for a big drop in TV income at the next contract negotiation - it is always interesting to see how we are doing viewers-wise at the moment. There is probably little point in comparing versus previous years as there are so many variables, so just focusing on top 10's and competition across the Sports channels. A few interesting snippets:

 - w/e 6th May:

Thursday Premier League Darts (remember how Hearn was telling us how much more popular darts is?) - 89k (across Action and Main Event - ie a premium slot).

Thursday Super League (RL - the sport that nobody watches and nobody knows the names of players) - 138k (across Arena and Mix - also a premium slot)

NRL vs Super Rugby - identical slots sees the NRL trump SR - 21k vs 13k (this is a regular occurance).

 

- w/e 27th May:

Rugby League takes 7 of the 10 slots on Arena. 

More people watched the regular Super League games than watched the England v Barbarians RU game on the Sunday afternoon.

Summer Bash attracted around 200k cumulative viewers. Peaking with c50k for the headline games each day.

 

Freesports are now on BARB:

Rugby AM at number 1 with 49k 

Backchat at number 3 with 25k

NCL at 6th with 14k

 

There are many other examples of us doing some good stuff and having good numbers out there. We should be pushing this narrative much more, instead of letting Hearn tell us how ###### we are.

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Steady on, DT.  I think you are being a bit positive here...!

More seriously, I wonder if RL harbours a mentality that is different from other sports, in being more innately pessimistic.  or perhaps it is in the nature of all really devoted fans (eg those who can be bothered to be involved in a fans' forum) to be more anxious about their chosen pastime and hence, almost inevitably perhaps, more pessimistic about its future wellbeing.

[DoubleD]

25 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Constantly hearing that we are in a weak position and heading for a big drop in TV income at the next contract negotiation - it is always interesting to see how we are doing viewers-wise at the moment. There is probably little point in comparing versus previous years as there are so many variables, so just focusing on top 10's and competition across the Sports channels. A few interesting snippets:

 - w/e 6th May:

Thursday Premier League Darts (remember how Hearn was telling us how much more popular darts is?) - 89k (across Action and Main Event - ie a premium slot).

Thursday Super League (RL - the sport that nobody watches and nobody knows the names of players) - 138k (across Arena and Mix - also a premium slot)

NRL vs Super Rugby - identical slots sees the NRL trump SR - 21k vs 13k (this is a regular occurance).

 

- w/e 27th May:

Rugby League takes 7 of the 10 slots on Arena. 

More people watched the regular Super League games than watched the England v Barbarians RU game on the Sunday afternoon.

Summer Bash attracted around 200k cumulative viewers. Peaking with c50k for the headline games each day.

 

Freesports are now on BARB:

Rugby AM at number 1 with 49k 

Backchat at number 3 with 25k

NCL at 6th with 14k

 

There are many other examples of us doing some good stuff and having good numbers out there. We should be pushing this narrative much more, instead of letting Hearn tell us how ###### we are.

 

We're currently in a power vacuum so it's always going to be the case. However, I expect Elstone will be pushing the positives when he gets his feet under the table and the future RFL chief too. The problem is with people such as Koukash, Irvine (and others) who re-gurgitate the myths, and make out that it somehow has become gospel

[gingerjon]

It is a source of constant wonder to me that many of the 'not a cheerleader' crowd so uncritically repeat darts press releases.

And I would still defy anyone to confidently name all the participants in this year's Darts Premier League without checking.

[Spidey]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

It is a source of constant wonder to me that many of the 'not a cheerleader' crowd so uncritically repeat darts press releases.

And I would still defy anyone to confidently name all the participants in this year's Darts Premier League without checking.

I’m up to 9,  but that includes “The Welsh guy who played a few times for South Wales RL” and the “Austrain Serbian fella”

[Damien]

Nice to see. Im particularly interested in the NRL to Super Rugby Union stat as I'd never seen the figures for these before. Has anyone ever found out how much the NRL got from Sky for the TV rights? Super Rugby Union had got a vastly inflated and quite ridiculous amount of money for their rights. 

[kiwis 13 6]

Bumping this thread good to hear positive news well done

[Mark S]

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

31 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

It is a source of constant wonder to me that many of the 'not a cheerleader' crowd so uncritically repeat darts press releases.

And I would still defy anyone to confidently name all the participants in this year's Darts Premier League without checking.

Not a single one.

No interest in it whatsoever.

[Dave T]

54 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Steady on, DT.  I think you are being a bit positive here...!

More seriously, I wonder if RL harbours a mentality that is different from other sports, in being more innately pessimistic.  or perhaps it is in the nature of all really devoted fans (eg those who can be bothered to be involved in a fans' forum) to be more anxious about their chosen pastime and hence, almost inevitably perhaps, more pessimistic about its future wellbeing.

Good question, I don't frequent other sport forums, so not sure, but it's an interesting question.

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Mark S said:

I'm not sure of your point on this thread?

[Dave T]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

Nice to see. Im particularly interested in the NRL to Super Rugby Union stat as I'd never seen the figures for these before. Has anyone ever found out how much the NRL got from Sky for the TV rights? Super Rugby Union had got a vastly inflated and quite ridiculous amount of money for their rights. 

Probably the only caveat I would add is I don't have the Saturday AM figs for Main Event, and either the NRL or Super Rugby could appear there and boost one of them, but in general, the figures when they are head to head on Action and Arena, RL does better.

[gingerjon]

29 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Good question, I don't frequent other sport forums, so not sure, but it's an interesting question.

Every sport has its fans who believe they sold the game too cheaply to Sky (or other non BBC broadcaster), are hidden away and not as popular as they were, definitely not as popular as they deserve to be, fail to invest in grassroots, and run by idiots.

And, actually, for a lot of sports I have a lot of sympathy for that take because most are losing participant numbers, clubs and 'mainstream' visibility.

But there's also the reality that sport in general plays a lower part in the consciousness of people than it did - or appeared to do anyway - 20 or 30 years ago.

[Cowardly Fan]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

And I would still defy anyone to confidently name all the participants in this year's Darts Premier League without checking.

I'm not sure anyone is claiming it's that big. Fair to say though the top darts players are more well known than the top rugby league players for casual sports fan, obviously helps there are less of them to remember. 

I'd expect darts to struggle in the next few years, Taylor is a huge loss to the sport and expect some others may be on their way out. Similarly tennis will likely struggle as Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic are likely to retire/decline around the same time. How much of an opportunity that is for rugby league I'm not sure. 

[Dave T]

5 minutes ago, Cowardly Fan said:

I'm not sure anyone is claiming it's that big. Fair to say though the top darts players are more well known than the top rugby league players for casual sports fan, obviously helps there are less of them to remember. 

 I'd expect darts to struggle in the next few years, Taylor is a huge loss to the sport and expect some others may be on their way out. Similarly tennis will likely struggle as Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic are likely to retire/decline around the same time. How much of an opportunity that is for rugby league I'm not sure. 

I think it is always difficult to compare personalities from team sports to individual sports. As a casual football fan I won't have a clue who half of the England team are or who they play for. I probably only know one or two RU England players despite all the coverage it gets.

Individual sports will often lead to higher profiles, but as GJ points out that is generally at the very very top end. 

In most of the major individual sports, I suspect people could probably name 4 or 5 and then tail off really quickly.

[The 4 of Us]

I would hope and expect that Robert Elstone would have a good idea where the game sits as regards eyeballs and worth.

[Cowardly Fan]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

I think it is always difficult to compare personalities from team sports to individual sports. As a casual football fan I won't have a clue who half of the England team are or who they play for. I probably only know one or two RU England players despite all the coverage it gets.

Individual sports will often lead to higher profiles, but as GJ points out that is generally at the very very top end. 

In most of the major individual sports, I suspect people could probably name 4 or 5 and then tail off really quickly.

I'd agree with most of that. I think Hearn probably over emphasised the importance of this, but in my experience people struggle to name a RL player and RU I think has a similar issue given their profile. Compare with say NFL and I think they do rightly or wrongly build up their stars more, with the focus on the quarterback. 

[Dave T]

Just now, Cowardly Fan said:

 I'd agree with most of that. I think Hearn probably over emphasised the importance of this, but in my experience people struggle to name a RL player and RU I think has a similar issue given their profile. Compare with say NFL and I think they do rightly or wrongly build up their stars more, with the focus on the quarterback. 

Yup, i'd support us making more of our players, but tbh, I'd welcome that simply because it would mean we were doing something to get our game out there. 

I think we need to raise awareness of the whole game - players, clubs, managers, competitions, the whole lot!

[Cowardly Fan]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yup, i'd support us making more of our players, but tbh, I'd welcome that simply because it would mean we were doing something to get our game out there. 

I think we need to raise awareness of the whole game - players, clubs, managers, competitions, the whole lot!

 I believe we do under use our players in particular, Toronto seem to be doing a better job of this with their crowd interaction. 

I remember hospitality entertainment at Warrington being Rhys Evans speaking a little nervously on a dodgy mic! By comparison when I was a kid Martin Johnson took pictures with all the children without needing a prompt, pressed me above his head too, although that might not pass health and safety! 

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Johnoco said:

I think you're right but the difference for RL is that it is so geographically defined.

That's certainly true. And it's definitely more unhelpful than helpful.

[Chamey]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

Nice to see. Im particularly interested in the NRL to Super Rugby Union stat as I'd never seen the figures for these before. Has anyone ever found out how much the NRL got from Sky for the TV rights? Super Rugby Union had got a vastly inflated and quite ridiculous amount of money for their rights. 

That’s because the Super rugby rights can packaged with the junior competitions (mitre10, Currie Cup) and the international rights (the rugby challenge, summer tours etc). 

[Damien]

38 minutes ago, Chamey said:

That’s because the Super rugby rights can packaged with the junior competitions (mitre10, Currie Cup) and the international rights (the rugby challenge, summer tours etc). 

No it was because of a bidding war between BT and Sky at that time for any sports content. This certainly won't be repeated the next time, particularly with such poor viewing figures. 

[cookey]

I too occassionally view the BARB figures and am generally pleased with RL's viewing figures.Most sports seem to be losing viewers but RL stands up well compared to most.

I quite like mens tennis but the figures are poor.Darts has definately been losing viewers,maybe down to the absence of Phil Taylor.Some RU figures are truely disasterous - french league,Super 14 or whatever but they get very good international figures.Golf,outside the majors,gets two men and a dog.Boxing poor,outside the big bouts,cricket,reasonably good.

Generally,league does o.k.,seems to have a stable,solid following.With proper analysis,by qualified professionals,league should have little to fear.

[Chamey]

12 minutes ago, Damien said:

No it was because of a bidding war between BT and Sky at that time for any sports content. This certainly won't be repeated the next time, particularly with such poor viewing figures. 

Super rugby was not the jewel that BT and Sky were bidding for however, the summer tests (including last year's lions tour), and The Rugby Championship were. Super Rugby (& Mitre10/Currie Cup/NRC) are there as cheap content for sky to fill unfavourable hours. Due to the timings of it, there are matches almost all day Saturday, which makes it even more useful as schedule filler. Last year's SA v NZ dead rubber that was on at 4, rated 2/3rd the level of the SL grand final, which was on at 6. International matches in NZ & Australia were drawing 80-100k, at 8am. Which is a very high audience for a time when any sane person is sleep.

However, granted, it was pushed up by the bidding war, as BT have taken a lot of content recently, but unless SS completely abandons RU they'll need to keep hold of the AI's and SH RU. I really can't see it dropping (in a similar way that I expect SL to get a decent bump when it comes to it).

[Padge]

4 hours ago, gingerjon said:

It is a source of constant wonder to me that many of the 'not a cheerleader' crowd so uncritically repeat darts press releases.

And I would still defy anyone to confidently name all the participants in this year's Darts Premier League without checking.

I couldn't name you one, but I do know the Crafty Cockney (is that Eric Bristow?) died