Streaming companies want to broadcast AFL as players seek huge pay rises
By Sam McClure
April 23, 2022
Two of the world’s biggest streaming companies are bidding for the first time to broadcast AFL games, at the same time as the league requires significantly higher broadcast revenues to pay for the salary claims of male players and a near doubling in pay for the AFLW.
The Age can reveal that global streaming platforms Amazon and Paramount have both expressed interest in being part of the AFL’s broadcasting deal beyond 2024. Both companies have responded to a letter sent out by the AFL to gauge interest from prospective buyers.
Streaming giants Amazon and Paramount are in the frame for a new AFL broadcast deal.
It comes as the players are seeking more money, but fewer people are watching footy on the Seven Network, the free-to-air broadcaster. Channel Seven’s AFL ratings are down more than 18 per cent, compared to five years ago, as people turn to subscription TV and streaming.
Fox Footy’s numbers are also down 13 per cent, while Fox’s streaming service, Kayo, has gone from zero viewers in 2017 to an average 139,000 in the first month of the season.
Outgoing league chief executive Gillon McLachlan flagged in his resignation media conference last week that his two key remaining tasks were to negotiate the next broadcast deal and complete the players’ next collective bargaining agreement.
Sources inside the league say the two are linked by the requirement for more cash.
Given so much of the AFL’s revenue comes from the broadcast rights, the potential introduction of a disruptor like Amazon, Paramount, Ten or even Nine (which owns this masthead) is of great value to the league.
Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, with a market capital of $US1.55 trillion, has purchased the rights to Thursday-night football in the NFL to be streamed on Amazon Prime. Industry sources have told The Age that if a company like Amazon was to involve itself in broadcasting football in Australia, it would follow a similar path to its purchase of one game a week in the NFL.
Australian streaming service Stan (owned by Nine) announced a broadcast deal in 2020 for rugby, which is worth $100 million over three years.
If the AFL could negotiate more five-day breaks with its players in the next contract negotiations, Thursday night football could become a permanent fixture beyond 2024, meaning this game could be sold in isolation.
Paramount is now owned by CBS Studios, who also took over the Ten Network in Australia. Paramount Plus in Australia entered the market for streaming live sport when it purchased the rights to soccer’s A-League last year.
Paramount’s affiliation with local TV network Ten would come as an added bonus to the AFL, who would have the flexibility to negotiate with a free-to-air channel.
In 2017, an average AFL game would see Seven out-rate Fox by more than half-a-million people. In 2022, that difference has nearly halved.
As revealed by The Age in 2019, the AFL sent a team to the US on a covert, fact-finding mission to visit the head offices of Amazon, Google and Facebook. In what will be seen as a major part of his legacy, McLachlan has been ahead of the curve in the digital space when it comes to broadcasting as compared to many other Australian sports.
The AFL would not comment on negotiations. Amazon and Paramount have been approached for comment.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/str ... 5aeip.html
