NRL proposal to go five nights a week receives mixed response from media buyers
Senior media buyers have expressed mixed views over the prospect of the NRL broadcasting games up to five-nights a week, under a proposal which would see Network Ten share coverage with Nine or Seven.
The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday reported the NRL, which is currently tendering its sports rights, could look to schedule a game on Ten on Thursday night, a game on Nine or Seven on Friday night, three matches on Fox Sports on Saturday, two games on Nine or Seven on Sunday and a Monday night game on Fox Sports.
“I’m a mad sports fan but would I want to watch the same sport five nights a week? Probably not,” said Chris Walton, managing director of independent media agency Nunn Media.
“There is a risk of splintering the audience. Yes, if there was a game you wanted to watch then yes it would invariably be on, but I worry this wouldn’t work.”
Pekish
Alex Pekish, group media investment director at Dentsu Aegis, also expressed concern about the proposal telling Mumbrella: “Five nights a week of NRL or AFL is not a long term solution.”
Media industry sources have also questioned the viability of the five night proposal, with some noting that Nine’s current Thursday night game is already met with resistance from clubs and other elements of the NRL community on the basis that Thursday night impacts the draw, player recovery time and favours some clubs over others.
However, head of trading at the now Publicis-owned Match Media, Theo Zisoglou, welcomed the idea from an advertiser perspective, suggesting that sport was one of the few guaranteed audiences builders.
“In the current TV landscape, the only content working for the free-to-air networks seems to be news, sport and Australian made reality and drama,” said Zisoglou.
“So a shift to more live sport would definitely see a positive impact on TV viewing and open up more advertising opportunities. It would also provide another source to target the elusive male viewers.”
Senior Dentsu Aegis trader Pekish noted that the AFL has also been experimenting with Thursday night matches in 2o15.
“It has resonated with the audience and provides a live event on a Thursday that in turn results in an audience bump.”
Zisoglou
Zisoglou noted that from Ten Network’s perspective getting more sport would help.
“I don’t think it matters to the viewer where they get to see the content as long as they get to see it live and preferably free,” he said.
“But Ten have shown with the Big Bash that they can do live sport well and it’s definitely an area of content that has been lacking for them in the past five years.
“From Ten’s point of view it would obviously be a massive coup if they can acquire a mass reaching telecast even once a week to build an awareness base for their other programs.”
Pekish speculated that the recent Ten/Foxtel deal may see some sports NRL synergies regardless of whether the NRL expands to five nights a week.
“Whilst I expect various iterations of the way sports are broadcast as a result of the MCN/Ten/Foxtel partnership to surface over the next 12 months, there is a real opportunity to mitigate against its competition if Foxtel share some of its games with Ten,” he said.
The buyers Mumbrella spoke to also said Ten had been more competitive in recent months with its best commercial share since 2012, and for 25 to 54s its highest commercial share since 2011.
In prime time Ten finished the first half of 2015 with a 24.6 per cent commercial share, well up from 21.8 per cent last year. Seven had 30.1 per cent and Nine 36.3 per cent.
“It is always encouraging to have a competitive landscape,” said Pekish. “After a couple years of hard work, Ten have done a great job selecting the right programmes that enabled them to build audiences in the first half of 2015 and provide a solid audience base to promote their new programs.
“Whilst I expect quarter three to be more challenging, they are on the right track and expect more growth.
“Ten are having a great year compared to the last few years, and it’s good to see their punt on programs like Family Feud and I’m a Celebrity set up a nice lead in to the juggernaut that is Masterchef,” said Zisoglou.
“With overall TV audiences dropping for the first two quarters, Ten is again becoming a very viable option to advertisers to provide mass reach and cost efficiency for most buying demographics
“Ten’s challenge now is to sustain this for the rest of the year and build from what they have done year to date.”
The NRL today declined to comment on the speculation around a five day schedule.
Nic Christensen
Mumbrella is hosting a sports marketing summit in Melbourne on September 9. For more information click here.
Works fine for baseball in the US. Pretty much baseball every night of the week.
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