RLWC - TV viewing figures

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I am sure it will.  The extra momentum from the publicity of the Women's and Wheelchair competitions, the fact we have reached knockout stages and live on a Saturday on BBC1 should deliver good numbers.

To be fair, the England games have been big events anyway, they haven't been the challenge, so I agree, tomorrow should be great. 

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

Definitely agree timing of the women's and wheelchair tournaments has been perfect. Just as the men's tournament threatened to get a bit flat, or people were feeling overdosed on it, a whole different type of energy and stories has arrived. That will help. 

For me a sign that it will all come good at the end is if we can get back up to the 1.8 mln for the Eng-PNG quarter final - or even peak at 2 mln. If we hit that, then we can hope for a record semi and final, (if England keep winning!) 

I think 1 to 2 million has been our 'par' for internationals on the BBC. 

IIRC, we peaked at 2.8m for that NZ semi final, I think success would be breaking that. 

[Big Picture]

On 30/10/2022 at 09:28, Exiled Wiganer said:

Play an international in London every year. It’s where the biggest market is. 

As long as the game's top tier is an M62 league with at most one or two other teams which are in France, what will that accomplish other than a bit of one-off income once a year from ticket buyers who have no other interest in the sport?  And other than Australia and New Zealand what other opponent will draw the crowd to generate that bit of extra income?

Edited November 4, 2022 by Big Picture

[Toby Chopra]

36 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think 1 to 2 million has been our 'par' for internationals on the BBC. 

IIRC, we peaked at 2.8m for that NZ semi final, I think success would be breaking that. 

Yes, that's my benchmark for "success" too. If we can get a peak that starts with a 3, and preferably a 4 for a final with England in it, then we'll have made the most of thr excellent coverage the BBC have provided. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

51 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

As long as the game's top tier is an M62 league with at most one or two other teams which are in France, what will that accomplish other than a bit of one-off income once a year from ticket buyers who have no other interest in the sport?  And other than Australia and New Zealand what other opponent will draw the crowd to generate that bit of extra income?

You have absolutely no idea what you’re writing about. 

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

You have absolutely no idea what you’re writing about. 

If that's what you think then by all means answer the questions I posed, if you can that is.

[Dave T]

19 hours ago, Toby Chopra said:

Yes, that's my benchmark for "success" too. If we can get a peak that starts with a 3, and preferably a 4 for a final with England in it, then we'll have made the most of thr excellent coverage the BBC have provided. 

One thing I found interesting was that despite being in the NW we listen to Scottish network radio (prevents my wife being homesick ), and within 2hrs yesterday there must have been around 8 ads for the RLWC coverage. I've never really heard the BBC advertising on commercial radio before and it really stood out.

Hopefully they get the results they are looking for and we go onto bigger and better things as partners. If a media partner buys into international RL, that's when you get proper money to stage them. A million quid or two is pretty modest in TV rights, but probably game changing for RL. 

[Toby Chopra]

41 minutes ago, Dave T said:

One thing I found interesting was that despite being in the NW we listen to Scottish network radio (prevents my wife being homesick ), and within 2hrs yesterday there must have been around 8 ads for the RLWC coverage. I've never really heard the BBC advertising on commercial radio before and it really stood out.

Hopefully they get the results they are looking for and we go onto bigger and better things as partners. If a media partner buys into international RL, that's when you get proper money to stage them. A million quid or two is pretty modest in TV rights, but probably game changing for RL. 

It would have to stay on terrestrial though - we can't disappear behind a paywall again -  but I think those numbers are still doable. BBC/ITV pay an average of £7.5m a game for 6 nations, so I don't see why we couldn't command £1mn per game for an international series, if we can show we can deliver 2mln fans on three Saturday afternoons in October. Just need that international calendar signed off now.     

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

@Toby Choprathose RU six nation numbers aren't right. 

Journalists covering it took total tv revenue (including France and global) 

Bbc/ itv pay much nearer £3m a game 

But yes- I agree with your sentiment 

[Dave T]

32 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

It would have to stay on terrestrial though - we can't disappear behind a paywall again -  but I think those numbers are still doable. BBC/ITV pay an average of £7.5m a game for 6 nations, so I don't see why we couldn't command £1mn per game for an international series, if we can show we can deliver 2mln fans on three Saturday afternoons in October. Just need that international calendar signed off now.     

 

4 minutes ago, Rugbyleaguesupporter said:

@Toby Choprathose RU six nation numbers aren't right. 

Journalists covering it took total tv revenue (including France and global) 

Bbc/ itv pay much nearer £3m a game 

But yes- I agree with your sentiment 

Yes, whatever the actual numbers are, we know we are starting from a low base, and relatively modest investments could change the risk appetite for staging these tournaments. 

Hopefully we are demonstrating real value to the BBC and they want to properly invest. 

[JM2010]

How much money would RL lose if they had a joint TV deal with Ch4 and the BBC instead of Sky.

Would the increased profile and potential increased sponsorship this could bring be worth the drop in TV money?

Could a few years with 2 games a week on terrestrial TV have long term benefits for the growth of the sport?

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

How much money would RL lose if they had a joint TV deal with Ch4 and the BBC instead of Sky.

Would the increased profile and potential increased sponsorship this could bring be worth the drop in TV money?

Could a few years with 2 games a week on terrestrial TV have long term benefits for the growth of the sport?

You'd have to rethink a lot of income streams. 

TV rights money would go down, that would worry most clubs as it is a guaranteed and regular source of income. It is also the single largest income source. 

Sponsorship for example would be more valuable, but that value isn't consistent and wouldn't necessarily increase quickly enough or monetarily enough to compensate for the TV rights money reducing.

[JM2010]

33 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

You'd have to rethink a lot of income streams. 

TV rights money would go down, that would worry most clubs as it is a guaranteed and regular source of income. It is also the single largest income source. 

Sponsorship for example would be more valuable, but that value isn't consistent and wouldn't necessarily increase quickly enough or monetarily enough to compensate for the TV rights money reducing.

Yeah the problem would be how much money they would lose in the short term. They could exploit the increased profile it would bring but don't know how much of the shortfall in TV money it would cover

Long term I think it would help RL grow and become more valuable but not sure if SL could survive to reap any rewards of terrestrial TV exposure 

[Tommygilf]

6 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

Yeah the problem would be how much money they would lose in the short term. They could exploit the increased profile it would bring but don't know how much of the shortfall in TV money it would cover

Long term I think it would help RL grow and become more valuable but not sure if SL could survive to reap any rewards of terrestrial TV exposure 

Ultimately I think a mix is the future. Sky lose exclusivity but retain first dibs and number of fixtures.

[JM2010]

The blanket coverage by the BBC and the strong viewing figures as well as the social media and news stories on several channels will have massively increased the profile of RL at the moment.

Are clubs and the RFL capatalising on this to entice kids to take up the game, sell season tickets, attract sponsors etc?

It needs to be done now whilst people are talking about RL and seeing it all over the TV 

[Toby Chopra]

Anyone seen a figure for the England-PNG game? 

[Number 16]

Suggesting RL kick Sky's money into touch and instead go for unguaranteed 'growth' on terrestrial TV is utterly barking.

The only equivalent I can come up with is having SL player pictures festooned on Stobby lorries trundling along our motorways. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Number 16

[Northern Eel]

13 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Anyone seen a figure for the England-PNG game? 

I would be interested to see some figures around the wheelchair games too, as I think they could be really big.

[Archie Gordon]

11 hours ago, Toby Chopra said:

Anyone seen a figure for the England-PNG game? 

I'm interested too.

Someone send "nearly 2 million" on the game thread, I think. 

I've not seen anything from a proper source. 

[Dave T]

https://www.rlwc2021.com/article/853/rlwc2021-becomes-most-watched-rugby-league-world-cup-in-history

The BBC are such important partners for us. 

[Man of Kent]

Yeah but crowds blah yadda blah 

Still 17 games to go too, including 6 semis and 3 finals (with minimum 5, possibly 8 games involving English sides). Good stuff.

 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

Yeah but crowds blah yadda blah 

TV money is banked already, chief. Doesn't matter how many viewers there are on advertising-free FTA.

[Man of Kent]

Just now, gingerjon said:

TV money is banked already, chief. Doesn't matter how many viewers there are on advertising-free FTA.

Oh but it does.

[Nearenough]

this chap:

https://twitter.com/Ratings_UK

says the figure for Eng v PNG was 1.4m

last nights wheelchair match on BBC2 was 0.49m

that was the same time/channel as the Tonga v Wales match on Mon 28th Oct which had 0.8m viewers

Edited November 8, 2022 by Nearenough

[JonM]

I'd imagine BBC sport is pretty happy with half a million viewers on BBC2 on a Monday night for 90 minutes of  international wheelchair sport that is cheap to film and for which they paid next to nothing. Compares very well with the Monday night EastEnders figures on BBC1 which often dip below 2 million.