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NRL 2017 TV RATINGS!

Nerd

Bench
Messages
2,827
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/greenb...le-for-eyeballs-with-afl-20180611-p4zkt5.html

Greenberg's diplomacy disguises battle for eyeballs with AFL

Todd Greenberg’s remark on Melbourne radio that Australia’s two dominant football codes weren’t at war, so much as having a mutual enemy in Netflix, makes me wonder whether the AFL chief executive, Gillon McLachlan, reacted the same way as Metternich when told that Talleyrand had died.

Not for a moment am I equating the rival chief executives with the two great 19th-century European statesmen, Metternich who was Chancellor of the Austrian Empire and Talleyrand, the French diplomat who survived Louis XVI, the French Revolution, Napoleon and the Restoration.

Greenberg, McLachlan and, for that matter FFA’s David Gallop and Rugby Australia’s Raelene Castle, do possess fierce political ambition and it’s unlikely any of them would object to media allies advocating their talents, particularly now that the job of Cricket Australia’s CEO is vacant.

But only one of them could be as crafty as Talleyrand, on whom Napoleon relied despite calling him “a shit in a silk stocking”.

When given the news of Talleyrand’s death, Metternich said, “I wonder what he meant by that?”

McLachlan may have equally pondered what Greenberg meant by his remark that the AFL and NRL were not at war and, instead, had a mutual opponent in online streaming giant Netflix.

After all, the two codes were on a war footing when the NRL scheduled the 2018 Origin series. Greenberg initially planned to stage the second match, a Sunday night fixture, at the MCG, rather than play the first game there, as occurred with last Wednesday’s night’s match.

The NRL couldn’t trust the AFL not to schedule blockbuster matches in Melbourne over the June 22-24 weekend, leading to the Sunday night Origin match. Instead, the second match will be played at Homebush and the NRL has made it a standalone fixture, with no club games over the weekend.

Greenberg’s comment on Melbourne radio does evoke Talleyrand, who said: “Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts.”

The NRL has given the AFL a major hiding in TV ratings to the halfway mark of the 2018 competition, even before the four million who watched Origin I.

Oztam figures show that the cumulative Australian TV market has declined by 8.9 per cent this year and the fall in AFL ratings is even greater – a 13.9 per cent drop –while NRL ratings are flat at minus 0.6 per cent.

It’s probably true that Netflix, together with the Commonwealth Games and royal wedding, have affected Melbourne viewing habits more than Sydney, although the AFL points to a scheduling conundrum where poorly performing Carlton had a run of Friday night games.

If AFL and NRL games were only on free-to-air TV, this may be so. But consider the Fox figures for both codes this year.

The NRL has seven of the top 10 Fox programs of AFL/NRL for 2018, as well as six of the first seven. The NRL has 16 of the top 20 AFL/NRL broadcasts for 2018.

Whereas both codes each had five of the top AFL/NRL programs for both 2017 and 2018 (excluding finals), no AFL game from 2018 makes the top 20. The highest rated AFL 2018 Fox game, Collingwood versus Essendon with 321,162 viewers, is ranked 25th over the combined AFL/NRL broadcasts for 2017 and 2018.

Admittedly, it was also shown on FTA but its 2018 ranking of fourth for both codes demonstrate yet again how much AFL viewership has slipped in a year.

FTA games in both codes are simulcast and Fox now has opposition from Netflix and the streaming services it didn’t have a decade ago. But the NRL has held up well, with the No.1 ranked AFL/NRL game this year – the round-12 Panthers versus Dragons match with 366,399 viewers – the third-highest rating NRL match of the past five seasons. It sits below the stellar 2016 Storm versus Sharks battle for the minor premiership (499,000) and behind a round-one match between the Cowboys and Sharks in 2016 (372,000).

By blaming Netflix, perhaps Greenberg suspects the AFL’s real problem is the viewer trend towards
shorter programs, particularly if games are one sided.

We tend to follow the United States in many social habits and the viewership of NFL games (where the ball is in play one minute in every 17 minutes) is down nine per cent on the previous season.

Significantly, the average margin of victory has increased in the NFL. Similarly, many AFL games (100 minutes compared to NRL 80 minutes) are decided by the beginning of the fourth quarter, while the average margin of victory in the NRL is 12.7 after round 13, down from last year’s record low of 13.1 for the full season.
With a drop in ratings like that I would hate to be a 7 West Media marketing person trying to sell advertising to AFL games from here on in.
 

El Diablo

Post Whore
Messages
94,107
Victorians selling AFL to Victorians will ensure they don't lose to much I am sure
a lot of big businesses are based in Melboring too and have many cult members working for them who love throwing money at AFL just because it's AFL and not for any commercial benefit to the business itself

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_Melbourne

and then AFL like to have sponsors sign exclusivity deals

https://www.smh.com.au/business/sponsors-drawn-into-fierce-code-rivalry-20110927-1kvgo.html

When the AFL's deal with Qantas expired, Demetriou approached a Melbourne-based senior executive of the Flying Kangaroo, Ken Ryan, and insisted a renewal of their sponsorship was only possible if the AFL was given exclusive status. It meant ditching the other three football codes.

Ryan pointed out the Wallabies are an iconic brand with upmarket supporters and travel overseas extensively; ditto the Socceroos, particularly at the time of the qualifying matches leading to the World Cup; NRL, with 16 teams, is played in three states and two countries and the Kangaroos also travel internationally.

But Demetriou was intransigent and went to Virgin, which agreed to be the exclusive AFL carrier. Virgin, at the time, had a sponsorship arrangement with the NRL's Rabbitohs.

The South Sydney chief executive, Shane Richardson, says: ''At the end of last year we agreed to terms with Virgin for another 12 months. Suddenly, they pulled the pin and the deal was off. We found out two weeks later that they had done an exclusive deal with the AFL.''

Tony Shepherd, chairman of Transfield and the Giants, is fond of telling Melbourne mates how impressed he is with the way the AFL does business. The Rabbitohs have a different view.
 

Coparugby

Juniors
Messages
704
a lot of big businesses are based in Melboring too and have many cult members working for them who love throwing money at AFL just because it's AFL and not for any commercial benefit to the business itself

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_Melbourne

and then AFL like to have sponsors sign exclusivity deals

https://www.smh.com.au/business/sponsors-drawn-into-fierce-code-rivalry-20110927-1kvgo.html
It’s beyond most people living north of the Barassi line to comprehend the dastardly thinking that permeates AFL’s dark corridors.
 

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
6,645
AFL is in crisis, they are talking about a major overhaul of the rules to make it more watchable. Both Suns and Lions are on life support as is St Kilda apparently.

Send Fitzroy back to Melbourne, the Suns to Tasmania and GWS to Canberra where most of their members come from - their attempt at expansion has been an utter failure and even their heartlands are moaning about how unwatchable the game is. Where's my violin....
 
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Cumberland Throw

First Grade
Messages
6,544
Send Fitzroy back to Melbourne, the Suns to Tasmania and GWS to Canberra where most of their members come from - their attempt at expansion has been an utter failure and even their heartlands are moaning about how unwatchable the game is. Where's my violin....

They won't move shit

They have $160m in bank and a stadium

Can make $20m a year in interest and support shit teams
 

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