Stats from the first Premiership Match shown on ITV

[InBetweenWasp]

Article lifted from The Times.  Interesting results for the first match shown both in terms of viewing numbers (and those vs BT Sport) and impact for Sale Sharks.

ITV’s first live Premiership Rugby match set a new record for the biggest TV audience ever for a league match.

A peak of 750,000 viewers tuned into ITV to watch Sale beat Leicester on Sunday with a further 213,000 watching on BT Sport, taking the total close to one million.

Premiership Rugby’s chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said: “We are thrilled with the audience figures on both ITV and BT Sport which exceeded our expectations. It was a typically unpredictable and entertaining game and a great showcase for Premiership Rugby.

“We can’t wait for the next match to be shown on ITV, Northampton Saints v Wasps [March 13], and of course for the final on June 18 which this year is on terrestrial TV for the first time.”

Premiership Rugby signed a deal with ITV to show four league matches plus the final and a weekly highlights show, rising to seven games in the next two seasons. The aim of the deal is to try to expand the league’s audience reach and bring in new fans.

BT Sport, the main rights holder which has shown the competition since 2013, is understood to be comfortable with the arrangement as it could have the effect of increasing their subscriptions.

Its audience figures are up this season too with the average audience increasing from 200,000 per match to nearly 240,000. The most popular Friday night game this season was Bristol Bears’ 32-15 win over Sale Sharks — watched by about 250,000 viewers on January 7 — and for Saturday fixtures the rerun of last year’s final, where Harlequins beat Exeter Chiefs 14-12, on January 8, was seen by 370,000 people.

The coverage also saw Sale experience a surge in demand for tickets for their next home match against Worcester, and a huge rise in Google searches relating to the club.

[hookender]

Potential for our game to reach a big audience with the six nations games on the Friday and Saturday and us playing on the Sunday . Especially if the last paragraph is correct and we win.

 Did anyone catch the highlights show ? Thought not bad as a first attempt with Flats and Topsy . Liked the little analysis they did on moves, seemed to be aimed to new to rugby types ,which I think is a good idea. Though how many would stay up for 11:40 on a Sunday night ?

 The only little gripe was that it was pretty obvious that programme had been recorded on the Saturday night with ours and Sales games added to end.

[Shugs]

Can only be a good thing.

[ardenwasp]

I doubt BT cares about this too much as they are on the cusp of flogging the network to either DAZN or Discovery. Whether the new owners of BT Sport will be too pleased with this arrangement remains to be seen. My view is rugby sorely needs terrestial TV coverage right now, balanced to ensure bums on seats in the stadiums.