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Highlights videos... where are they?

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
Fans of other sports will notice that game days are a constant stream of Big Play highlights across social media.
Best example by far, the NFL. Glorious. Even people not paying attention are alerted to a huge game taking place by the inundation and viral spread of highlights across Twitter and FB.

Super League can't even post a highlights run down at the end of the game.
Here's what they manage:

A 4 second animation of the word TRY, instead of the actual try.

Try to find a video at the end of the game? You have to go to the Sky sports website, where they've stitched together some half arsed clips without even bothering to add a voice over.

Not to mention the baffling fact that not all games are even videoed.

The NRL are behind the times on this sort of thing but f**k me the RFL make them look like the cutting edge.
My guess is they've flogged off the entire rights to Sky Sports for 2 pies and a coke, so can't even show a 10 second clip of their own sport?

EDIT: Above should read 'not all games are even broadcast'
 

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Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
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7,178
Can they actually be watched by anyone?

But really that's a side note in the broader point.
They can be watched by anyone who has the video. Every f**king amateur match would be videoed haha no idea why you thought that.

As for the highlights, yes, they're posted on the Sky Sports website, they're also shown on TV after the featured match, during a highlights round-up show on Mondays and then shown on FTA on the BBC on a Monday evening. After that I guess they can be put on Twitter. I agree with your overall point BTW, the presentation of the sport from Sky is awful and has been for years.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
I guess some time next week I can show people the Ryan Hall try then.
Excellent. This is how modern sport should function.

Old mate in Toronto is pissing his money up against a wall, even if they make Super League no one outside the m62 will ever see it.
 

Timmah

LeagueUnlimited News Editor
Staff member
Messages
100,897
I feel you've completely missed the point @Evil Homer

What's the value in recording the match if not to provide highlights of a game for fans to watch?

How do you expect a competition to build, grow and multiply in attendances, viewership etc without such footage available to the public.

Sky have fans in a comfortable catch 22 here, they've paid very little for the rights it seems, and are doing sweet f**k all to grow their piece of the viewing pie so they don't have to dedicate any more resources to what they seemingly consider an inferior product to everything else they broadcast.

Wouldn't surprise me if the ratings on Fox Sports here this morning were equal or greater than the figures in England on Sky.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
I feel you've completely missed the point @Evil Homer

What's the value in recording the match if not to provide highlights of a game for fans to watch?

How do you expect a competition to build, grow and multiply in attendances, viewership etc without such footage available to the public.

Sky have fans in a comfortable catch 22 here, they've paid very little for the rights it seems, and are doing sweet f**k all to grow their piece of the viewing pie so they don't have to dedicate any more resources to what they seemingly consider an inferior product to everything else they broadcast.

Wouldn't surprise me if the ratings on Fox Sports here this morning were equal or greater than the figures in England on Sky.
I think that's very unlikely, Super League is the second highest rated domestic sports league in the UK after soccer. Unfortunately since Sky changed ownership in 2014 they have treated RL with utter disdain, they've stopped promoting the sport altogether and literally every aspect of the presentation is substandard, from the idiotic, inarticulate commentators to the same dreadful intro graphics and music that they have been using since 2011. Plenty of people including myself are seriously questioning whether they are deliberately trying to sabotage the sport in order to drive down its market value. But ultimately it's up to them, we're locked into a contract and if they want to put out a shitty TV product and sabotage their own viewing figures then what can we do?

Highlights are here BTW, knock yourselves out: http://www.skysports.com/rugby-league
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
Highlights are here BTW, knock yourselves out: http://www.skysports.com/rugby-league

You don't think it's concerning that SL can't post their own highlights on their own media? Who's going out of their way to the Sky sports website to watch a hastily cobbled together clip with no commentary? Certainly not casual or new fans.
The way sports are viewed and marketed has massively shifted into social media in the last 5 years and is even now rapidly changing as major sports find new ways to utilise it. Rugby League is being left behind by clinging to old media and looking inwards, Super League specifically even moreso.

Yes they're locked into a contract, but they locked themselves into it. They deserve the criticism.
 

roughyedspud

Coach
Messages
12,181
Our whole online profile is a f**king mess..

Championship & league 1 clubs aren't allowed to stream our games live and sky own our TV rights and choose not to broadcast them...it's a joke
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
You don't think it's concerning that SL can't post their own highlights on their own media? Who's going out of their way to the Sky sports website to watch a hastily cobbled together clip with no commentary? Certainly not casual or new fans.
The way sports are viewed and marketed has massively shifted into social media in the last 5 years and is even now rapidly changing as major sports find new ways to utilise it. Rugby League is being left behind by clinging to old media and looking inwards, Super League specifically even moreso.

Yes they're locked into a contract, but they locked themselves into it. They deserve the criticism.
I agree. I also agree that they shit the bed a little with the last TV negotiations. But you also need to understand that without the Sky contract Super League wouldn't exist and the sport would literally be part-time here. Sky offered a decent increase from the last deal and so the RFL jumped on it, which at least ensures that Super League exists for the next few years. Given Sky's treatment of the sport since their new ownership came in I'm actually a little concerned that they will try to slash the value of the next contract or pull out altogether, it seems like they've been deliberately trying to marginalize RL for the past few years and this one has been the worst yet. But again, this is all Sky's doing, it's their choice to put highlights on their website and not relevant social platforms. This is the same company that bought out the rights to the Championship from Premier and then refused to show more than one match a season. I'm pretty convinced there's someone there with a vendetta against RL, but at the end of the day it's a private company, they are the ones losing money and there's not really anything we can do about it.
 

Timmah

LeagueUnlimited News Editor
Staff member
Messages
100,897
The flow on effects are fairly substantial too - the inability of clubs that don't feature on Sky games to attract bigger sponsorship dollars - be it on jumpers or on at-ground sponsor hoardings etc.

Sky are digging the Super League's grave for it, there's no other way to put it. Single-cam clips pasted together in Premiere Pro with no supers, voiceover or commentary is just woeful.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
The flow on effects are fairly substantial too - the inability of clubs that don't feature on Sky games to attract bigger sponsorship dollars - be it on jumpers or on at-ground sponsor hoardings etc.

Sky are digging the Super League's grave for it, there's no other way to put it. Single-cam clips pasted together in Premiere Pro with no supers, voiceover or commentary is just woeful.
Yeah, I know. But again, there's nothing we can do. British RL is literally at Sky's mercy, aside from being a reliable ratings draw we have no leverage on them, and the ratings we do pull count for very little because Southern-based consumer research agencies are telling them and everyone else that RL is a minor regional sport that is followed by miserable working class old men and so has no value for advertisers or sponsors. The other major commercial networks won't even touch RL for that reason. In reality half the RL TV audience is from affluent areas in the South, but they don't care. It's just a cultural thing, unless something happens to change the image and perception of the sport among the establishment elite then we can't really ever succeed in the UK. Like you said, it's a catch 22 situation. I expect if we had successful teams in 4-5 major North American cities then they might start to look at things a little differently.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
I guess some time next week I can show people the Ryan Hall try then.
Excellent. This is how modern sport should function.

Old mate in Toronto is pissing his money up against a wall, even if they make Super League no one outside the m62 will ever see it.
Highlights are all over Super League twitter today, I guess they just had to wait until the match replays had run on Sky. Or maybe they just wanted to post them at a relevant time for their audience rather than midnight.
 

latingringo101

Juniors
Messages
585
If the RFL come to the next TV rights deal, who else can they approach to Threaten Sky with to switch over to?

Do premier sports still cover RL?

I don't really know the UK tv market just wondering that's all
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
If the RFL come to the next TV rights deal, who else can they approach to Threaten Sky with to switch over to?

Do premier sports still cover RL?

I don't really know the UK tv market just wondering that's all
Nobody. That's the problem. Premier Sports is a non-entity. The only other credible network is BT Sports, who have never shown any interest in RL. Unless things change regarding that we don't have anywhere to go apart from Sky.
 

deluded pom?

Coach
Messages
10,897
Nobody. That's the problem. Premier Sports is a non-entity. The only other credible network is BT Sports, who have never shown any interest in RL. Unless things change regarding that we don't have anywhere to go apart from Sky.

Which means we basically have to accept whatever Sky offer which is usually just enough to allow SL to be a full time professional sport.
 

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