Australia

Plummeting TV audiences could cost ARU

ESPN Staff

The Wallabies have suffered a drop in both crowd figures and ratings figures © Getty Images Enlarge

The Wallabies have experienced not only a massive crowd slump at their latest home Tests but have also lost a huge 75% of their audience on free-to-air television inside a month. Depite this Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver is confident the massive fall will not have "any negative impact" on rugby's next broadcast deal.

After almost a million viewers saw the Wallabies draw with the All Blacks in Sydney on August 16, only an estimated 250,000 tuned in nationally to see Australia sneak home against Argentina on the Gold Coast on September 13.

As the ARU head into negotiations with the hopes of expanding FTA coverage - with the potential Super Rugby exposure - the hit to ratings will not bode well, especially as the board has admitted its long-term financial security relies on substantial growth for their next TV deal. Pulver said earlier in the year he was targeting a $40m-per-year package similar to Australian soccer.

"Any drop-off concerns me, but obviously there are different circumstances behind every game. It's Test matches against New Zealand compared to Test matches against Argentina," Pulver toldNews Corps. "And there are different environments too for every game, in terms of what competitor sports are on air. But overall, I think the trends have been pretty good for us."

Despite the recent drop in ratings, figures show the Wallabies' ratings have grown over recent seasons and are generally respectable.

So far in the 2014 Rugby Championship, figures are up to an average 600,000 per Test, up from 521,600 last year and 484,200 in 2012. The successful French series in June also drew more viewers than the 2012 Wales series, and both Bledisloe Tests were up on the last two years.

"The thing you have got to remember is free-to-air networks are now attracted to smaller and smaller audiences because there are so many channels out there and so much content out there," Pulver said. "It's all happening in an environment where you have this continued fragmentation of media, an acceptable audience ten years ago is very different to what it is today.

"When you take that point, and you map it up against the fact our ratings have actually been pretty strong, I am not expecting [the Wallabies' ratings drop] to have any negative impact at all from a broadcasting negotiation perspective. In fact I think it just continues to stress the point that we have said all along, and that is live sport is a very valuable commodity in a broadcasting sense."

Along with Channel Seven, Ten is considered the network most likely to purchase rugby rights when the next deal kicks in in 2016 and it is believed both channels will be looking to add rugby to their digital channels.

It is understood the entire SANZAR broadcasting rights - including South African and New Zealand - will be sold for a solid increase in revenue, but the ARU will have to fight to earn a fair split in hopes to plug some gaps in finances.

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