State of Origin suffering a TV ratings slump
Phil Rothfield Sports Editor-at-Large, The Daily Telegraph
June 30, 2016 9:00pm
Rugby league’s showpiece event, State of Origin, is slowly dying.
Channel Nine TV ratings show a startling 680,000 viewers have disappeared in the last two years after yet another predictable Queensland series victory. The massive 16.5 per cent slump has been put down to a combination of reasons:
* Games starting too late and well after advertised kick-off time.
* Queensland’s dominance to win 10 of the last 11 series has become too monotonous and boring.
* The poor quality of games and overly defensive tactics; and
* Unpopular selections in the NSW Blues teams.
The ratings figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph have sent shock waves through the NRL on top of sluggish ticket sales for this year’s series.
Ticket sales for the Suncorp Stadium game, which normally sellout well in advance, were the slowest in history.
Officials had to lower seat prices to $30 (10 for $300) to ensure the game one crowd got to 80,000 in Sydney — an offer that has since been repeated for Origin III — for what was once regarded as the hottest ticket in sport. But the TV ratings slump is by far the biggest concern.
National ratings for the last three years for Origin 2 are 2014 (4,188,147) 2015 (3,922,305) and 2016 (3,496,983).
The number of viewers has fallen by nearly half a million on last year … and 680,000 on 2014.
A breakdown of the ratings show capital city figures remain steady with most viewers turning off in regional audiences across the country.
Although with Sydney audiences, figures were down more than 200,000 for game two compared to two years ago.
Channel Nine still expects the Origin series will provide two of the top-five rating shows on Australian television this year. Their revenue figures are also up 12 per cent on last year.
It is the potential long-term damage to future broadcast-deal negotiations and advertising sales that is the major concern for both the NRL and the network.
Especially as the figures quoted are for live games and not dead-rubbers.
Read more: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 78ad7f73c1
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