NRL Digital Network Launched - NRL.com

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The National Rugby League's new $120 million digital business will not cannibalise the audiences of existing media organisations, the NRL's digital boss insists.

NRL Digital, encompassing a new central news website, and sites and apps across the competition's 16 teams, went live on Tuesday afternoon, in a sweeping change designed for rugby league to take control of and better commercialise its online assets.

The NRL says its digital business is designed to make it easier for fans to buy memberships, tickets and merchandise, and for its clubs to better market themselves to existing and prospective fans. Photo: aap
Rebekah Horne, the NRL's chief digital officer, played down concerns from News Corporation about having to compete with the league's news service, saying: "We have excellent partnerships with our existing rights holders in Fox Sports, Telstra and Nine [Entertainment Co.] and there will be a promotion of their coverage. But we think this will also help with our direct engagement with our fans."

The NRL has taken control of its digital assets from Telstra under the terms of its $1 billion broadcast deal signed two years ago. Telstra still retains streaming rights and has built a new NRL app in conjunction with the league. The NRL and Telstra will also share some commercial income, although Ms Horne would not reveal the split.

NRL.com will feature respected journalists such as former Fairfax Media reporters Brad Walter and Michael Chammas, but Ms Horne said the venture would focus on providing better content to customers and, in particular, having extensive data-mining capabilities that would allow the NRL and its clubs to better understand and service its fans.

'Meaningful relationships'
"Digital is important for everything that we do across the entire business," Ms Horne said. "The success of this venture will be measured if we can create more meaningful relationships with our fans and engage with them more closely ... giving them content they want that is tailored for them."

That will include more news, both on the central NRL website and app and sites across the club's digital assets, with a particular focus on video content.

But Ms Horne said the digital business, which has about 75 employees, was also designed to make it easier for fans to buy memberships, tickets and merchandise, and for its clubs to better market themselves to existing and prospective fans, with visitors to the sites and apps required to register. "The key is to increase the awareness of and the engagement in the sport."

The league has already signed Holden, insurer Youi, Harvey Norman and Telstra as digital sponsors, although Ms Horne said the NRL still had some digital packages to sell.

Clubs would be able to mine data to sell memberships and tickets to fans, and each will pay the NRL $178,000 to buy back their digital advertising space to then on-sell.

https://amp.afr.com/business/sport/...ess-20171212-h030xb?__twitter_impression=true

 

[unforgiven]

Just looked at some of the new websites, they look nice and fresh. They do have some big advertising banners though.

 

[Burwood]

It would be nice if I could actually get in to any of the pages other than the homepage. Unless every page is meant to show an error message?

 

[unforgiven]

It would be nice if I could actually get in to any of the pages other than the homepage. Unless every page is meant to show an error message?

Which site are you looking at, I've looked at nrl.com and weststigers.com.au and they both seem to be loading ok.

 

[insert.pause]

They're a hell of a lot better than the Telstra clusterf**k we've had for over a decade.

And they've employed a few pretty decent journos & media types, as long as it's not all just a PR exercise it will be a welcome change from the Newscorp dribble.

 

[Danish]

Apparently the NRL only has the right to show its own video content in Oz. Every vid just gets geo-blocked here in the US. The app is also only available in the Australian App Store.

The roosters app is available in the US.... but seems it only has the squad list in it while everything else fails to load. Oh, and all the vids on the roosters site are geo blocked now too.

What an amateur piece of garbage

 

[Mr Angry]

Hosted by Telstra.

Fail 101.

 

[axl rose]

Was very slow and then just gave an error message anyway. Maybe it's just a Chrome thing. Will try Netscape Navigator later. Should have done a deal like the NFL with Google/Youtube for instant live video highlights and scores (instead of flagging videos for takedown from the most popular platform in the world)

 

[Mr Angry]

Will try Netscape Navigator.

LMAO

 

[Chook Norris]

So far have a 'meh' feel about it. See what they're trying to do but not sure how much more attractive it actually is. Does it feel that much more 'digital'?

Also, I don't like the whole standardisation of all the club websites. If the NRL wants to promote tribalism between clubs, each club website should be allowed to be more unique rather than being the same. The style of play on the field is already too homogenous and now this. I realise that this might've been the case more recently but I hope others also see where I'm coming from

 

[Mr Angry]

Also, I don't like the whole standardisation of all the club websites.

Welcome to Telstra, sponsor who actually takes away from the game.

I think they make more than they give. They give sponsorship only to take it away and then some.

It is sad, really.

 

[insert.pause]

Apparently the NRL only has the right to show its own video content in Oz. Every vid just gets geo-blocked here in the US. The app is also only available in the Australian App Store.

The roosters app is available in the US.... but seems it only has the squad list in it while everything else fails to load. Oh, and all the vids on the roosters site are geo blocked now too.

What an amateur piece of garbage

It's because Newscorp now own the international streaming rights.

 

[Desert Qlder]

Upon updating, the app crashed within 45 seconds.

 

[insert.pause]

NRL’s new digital plan revealed by Rebekah Horne

As chief digital officer for the NRL, Rebekah Horne won’t be drawn on her favourite team.

When asked who she barracks for, the league’s chief digital officer burst into laughter and replied cryptically: “I love all my teams equally”.

Ten’s former digital boss, who has shied away from the media since her appointment in early 2016, has finally lifted back the curtain on what she and her team of 80 have been up to, unveiling the new NRL digital network today.

“We’ve completely redesigned the network,” Horne told The Australian ahead of this afternoon’s announcement.

Replacing a collection of disparate websites and apps, the new network brings together 57 new digital products with the aim of helping the league reach a wider audience.

New websites and apps have been built for the NRL and its teams, including local state-based assets in NSW and Queensland.

And fans will now use a single login across the network, a change the will drive the development of individually tailored advertising products.

“The key objective for us was to give fans a really rich experience of the game, wherever they are; to augment their broadcast experience, whether they’re at home or out and about,” Horne said.

“We anticipate that personalisation, and the ability to recommend relevant content to our fans, will become really powerful in terms of engagement over time.”

Data collected from users will be used to deliver insights to commercial partners on the performances of their campaigns, which Horne said would “drive a premium for our advertising products”.

“We’re already majority sold out for next year on our advertising,” she said.

“What an ability to target advertising will do is reduce wastage, create a premium and brand safe environment for them to put their marketing messages into, and ensure that, while we might have less ads, it is a more premium advertising product.”

The announcement comes after the NRL defended its decision to allocate a large chunk of new broadcasting money to the game’s digital strategy, with Horne telling club bosses in June the $150 million being invested over five years was necessary to “future-proof” it against a possible slump in broadcasting revenue beyond 2023.

Fans can continue to live stream games through the Live Pass within the NRL app — owned by Telstra, which administers its data-free subscription service.

“We’ve experienced phenomenal growth in the number of fans streaming matches,” Horne said. NRL Live Pass subscribers are up 260 per cent this year, with more than 650,000 unique visitors visiting the app a total of 3.6 million times for every round.

She said the redesigned network would cater to different types of fans and enable them to better access the content they want, either at home or on the go.

“From a user point-of-view, it’s very easy for them to navigate around the sites — whether you’re wanting to hear latest news from the game or your club, match highlights, catch up games of football or extended replays,” Horne said.

Horne, who was Ten’s digital boss for three years and oversaw the development of tenplay, credited her earlier experience at Optus with fostering her digital nous.

“That was a very data-led organisation and we understood the behaviour of users and how to deliver great mobile experiences,” she said.

“I’ve always been obsessed with how to create great experiences for end users via technology, elegant digital solutions that are quite simple to use, really engaging and providing frictionless experiences.”

Horne has previously spoken of the revenue pressures at Ten, which had impacted on tenplay’s advertising and user experience. The network has since been bought out by US broadcaster CBS after falling into administration.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...e/news-story/2f0d17a811c04d021809843ef537b7d6

 

[Danish]

It's because Newscorp now own the international streaming rights.

Why would that stop me being able to watch the roosters’ welcome interviews with Teddy and Cronk?

 

[Mr Angry]

NRL’s new digital plan revealed by Rebekah Horne

As chief digital officer for the NRL, Rebekah Horne won’t be drawn on her favourite team.

When asked who she barracks for, the league’s chief digital officer burst into laughter and replied cryptically: “I love all my teams equally”.

Ten’s former digital boss, who has shied away from the media since her appointment in early 2016, has finally lifted back the curtain on what she and her team of 80 have been up to, unveiling the new NRL digital network today.

“We’ve completely redesigned the network,” Horne told The Australian ahead of this afternoon’s announcement.

Replacing a collection of disparate websites and apps, the new network brings together 57 new digital products with the aim of helping the league reach a wider audience.

New websites and apps have been built for the NRL and its teams, including local state-based assets in NSW and Queensland.

And fans will now use a single login across the network, a change the will drive the development of individually tailored advertising products.

“The key objective for us was to give fans a really rich experience of the game, wherever they are; to augment their broadcast experience, whether they’re at home or out and about,” Horne said.

“We anticipate that personalisation, and the ability to recommend relevant content to our fans, will become really powerful in terms of engagement over time.”

Data collected from users will be used to deliver insights to commercial partners on the performances of their campaigns, which Horne said would “drive a premium for our advertising products”.

“We’re already majority sold out for next year on our advertising,” she said.

“What an ability to target advertising will do is reduce wastage, create a premium and brand safe environment for them to put their marketing messages into, and ensure that, while we might have less ads, it is a more premium advertising product.”

The announcement comes after the NRL defended its decision to allocate a large chunk of new broadcasting money to the game’s digital strategy, with Horne telling club bosses in June the $150 million being invested over five years was necessary to “future-proof” it against a possible slump in broadcasting revenue beyond 2023.

Fans can continue to live stream games through the Live Pass within the NRL app — owned by Telstra, which administers its data-free subscription service.

“We’ve experienced phenomenal growth in the number of fans streaming matches,” Horne said. NRL Live Pass subscribers are up 260 per cent this year, with more than 650,000 unique visitors visiting the app a total of 3.6 million times for every round.

She said the redesigned network would cater to different types of fans and enable them to better access the content they want, either at home or on the go.

“From a user point-of-view, it’s very easy for them to navigate around the sites — whether you’re wanting to hear latest news from the game or your club, match highlights, catch up games of football or extended replays,” Horne said.

Horne, who was Ten’s digital boss for three years and oversaw the development of tenplay, credited her earlier experience at Optus with fostering her digital nous.

“That was a very data-led organisation and we understood the behaviour of users and how to deliver great mobile experiences,” she said.

“I’ve always been obsessed with how to create great experiences for end users via technology, elegant digital solutions that are quite simple to use, really engaging and providing frictionless experiences.”

Horne has previously spoken of the revenue pressures at Ten, which had impacted on tenplay’s advertising and user experience. The network has since been bought out by US broadcaster CBS after falling into administration.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...e/news-story/2f0d17a811c04d021809843ef537b7d6

So yeah f**k off.

Hosted on Telstra, shyte to begin, then want to be Nazis.

These people gets jobs.

 

[insert.pause]

Why would that stop me being able to watch the roosters’ welcome interviews with Teddy and Cronk?

Dunno, you're right, it shouldn't. Maybe they're still working out the kinks?

There is a feedback button, ask them.

 

[insert.pause]

So yeah f**k off.

Hosted on Telstra, shyte to begin, then want to be Nazis.

These people gets jobs.

Google does the same thing.

 

[Mr Angry]

Yeah I have to login to google to search, not.

Also not hosted on Telstra.

 

[Diesel]

Is this what we’ve been waiting for? Funnelling money into this? The KO times are showing as 4am FFS