Rugby rocks the world
19 Oct 2011
It seems the entire rugby world is watching New Zealand at the moment – at least on World Cup weekends.
RWC 2011 confirmed the viewership figures of the semi-final play-offs and the greatest numbers were a 73% audience share in France.
Les Bleus may have played the worst rugby at this tournament, but the French public interest in their performance was at a record high.
Among the records broken included:
*Record New Zealand television audience watch New Zealand defeat Australia
* Biggest Australian television audience since RWC 2003
*73 per cent audience share in France as Les Bleus book Final place
*Highest audience of RWC 2011 in UK sees France beat Wales
In New Zealand a record 1.97 million cumulative television audience tuned in to the host nation’s 20-6 semi-final victory over Australia via TV One, SKY, TV3 and Maori Television, not including the significant number who would have watched the compelling action in public venues across the country or online on demand.
Australians also tuned into the match in record numbers. A massive nationwide television audience of 3.23 million people watched the match – smashing the all-time Pay TV viewership record for Fox Sports and topping the free-to-air ratings on Channel Nine.
No Rugby match since the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003 has delivered an audience of the same magnitude in Australia. The tournament decider in Sydney eight years ago was watched by more than 4 million Australians. Channel Nine’s free-to-air broadcast attracted 2.5 million viewers.
It was a similar picture in France where TF1 attracted an audience of 9.5 million for the semi-final between France and Wales despite the 10:00 kick-off time. The average audience for the match, which saw France secure their first place in a Final since 1999 was equal to a viewing share of 73 per cent.
In the United Kingdom, ITV registered its highest audience of RWC 2011 with an average of 5.9 million viewers watching France’s 9-8 victory over Wales. The last 15 minutes of the match netted a peak audience of 6.6 million – a 58 per cent share.
163 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 » Show All
19 Oct 2011, 07:57 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-48:
Small country syndrome I think….
19 Oct 2011, 07:58 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-45:
Yes
19 Oct 2011, 08:05 am
I miss say this was a great world cup. What i saw of nz was great. This world cup has changed my perception about nz. Great stuff.
19 Oct 2011, 08:10 am
All of these stats have rational explanations though:
Record New Zealand television audience watch New Zealand defeat Australia – New Zealand’s first tough game of the tournament plus they are hosting so RWC excitement is far higher than usual within the country.
* Biggest Australian television audience since RWC 2003 – The main League season is now finished so there is a massive rugby watching audience available that don’t normally care 2 hoots about Union.
*73 per cent audience share in France as Les Bleus book Final place – first time the Frogs have been able to watch an international match whilst dipping croissants into their bowls of chocolate milk at 10:00am.
*Highest audience of RWC 2011 in UK sees France beat Wales – First real NH matchup the Poms have had to watch given their own side’s shocking performances and subsequent exit.
19 Oct 2011, 08:15 am
Will the Bokke & the poms be seeded 7th & 8th at the next WC?
19 Oct 2011, 08:18 am
I do think it was a very good WC, weather was not the most pleasant though !!
It all could end on a whimper though unless France can find a miraculous way to turn things around.
Also will not be sorry to see the end of tongue pulling and hakas but overall a big thumbs up !!!
19 Oct 2011, 08:18 am
@Brads(Brads)-50:
no brads, i am absolutely certain you are wrong.
your government has spent a whole lot more money on this thing
(think stadium as well as infrastructural costs plus hosting for starters) and as well on the nzru in order to win this thing (point to consider is your rugby chiefs recent moaning about not going to the next one because of the high cost and money lost participating) than it will make back in any profits derived from it.
its no different to our hosting of the football wc except ours cost even more as there is more hype and numbers around football than there is around rugby. generally, any country hosting a football wc spends way more than any country hosting a rwc.
you put on a great show as did we with the fwc…just leave it at that…when you start saying things that cannot possiblt be true…well, then you just ruin the moment.
19 Oct 2011, 08:23 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-55:
Dunno knobbie, was NZ and the Wallabies seeded 7th and 8th for this WC?
19 Oct 2011, 08:23 am
Thumbs up for the tournament.
The rugby was great.
Pity the boks are out, but that is sport for you. Unpredictable at best.
I hope that the French can make a fight of it in the final, not to win, but would not like to see a runaway victory.
19 Oct 2011, 08:27 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-57:
Not sure why they don’t just enjoy the moment rather than trying to convince the rest of the World of whatever they think we should be convinved about.
End of the day who cares what the rest of the world think, as long as the locals and the majority of the visitors had a lekker jol who cares about the rest?
19 Oct 2011, 08:27 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-58:
Good comeback
19 Oct 2011, 08:28 am
the next one should reflect reuslts between wc’s so 7th or 8th would be fair otherwise we’ll have english club sides making the wc
19 Oct 2011, 08:29 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-57:
You are mistaking investment in infrastructure like new stadia as a straight cost to the tournament.
Did all the new stadia in South Africa get pulled down after the WC?
19 Oct 2011, 08:36 am
@Brads(Brads)-63:
They are thinking about pulling down the one in Cape Town.
19 Oct 2011, 08:39 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-60:
agreed.
it was a great wc except for the shocking officiating.
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-59:
agreed, mostly.
it was a great cup for sure but the officiating was disgusting. more importantly officiating shouldn’t be ‘unpredictable’ at all.
am too hoping the french pitch and make it a humdinger of note. ab’s should close it out but i would be happy with a result either way.
19 Oct 2011, 08:39 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-62: so what were the rankings going into this world based on genius, stadium attendace?
19 Oct 2011, 08:41 am
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-64:
Don’t worry Blackie, Brads is clever enough to know it is flawed to compare a 1st world country with what is essencially a 3rd world country. For this ‘argument’ he chose to ignore it all and also to mix in a few untruths!
I put it down to nerves…
19 Oct 2011, 08:45 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-66:
Don’t be to harsh on knobbie, yesterday I worked out he was born after the last time the AB played in a WC final. Add in the fear of choking on the small bones found in frog legs and he is just not himself….
19 Oct 2011, 08:52 am
I’m very pleased to hear that RWC has done so well. So we won’t hear any more plainative bleatings from the NZRFSTFU about running short of lolly? Yeah right!
19 Oct 2011, 09:00 am
@Brads(Brads)-63:
no they did not.
and those stadia actually run at losses since the event (i mean keeping them going and operating them on a day to day basis) so not only were they outrageously expensive to build but also cost money going forward.
its in fact an ongoing issue in sa where the parties involved are trying to get the rugby stadia owners to divest from our ‘old’ rugby stadia and move over to the newly built multi-purpose stadia post fwc. bear in mind we are a 50mil+ population.
how will such a small population (nz) with already dwindling crowd attendance figures overall (when counted in s15, 3n and internationals) be able to generate the revenue anywhere near needed to cover those costs?
so when you say “investing in infrastructure” just where do you think the money comes from and just who do you think is liable for its settling?
19 Oct 2011, 09:01 am
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-64:
huh?
are you for real?
19 Oct 2011, 09:04 am
TBH I can’t say that I watched many games … I only watched 3 Bok matches and 3 others, I do not know if I will watch the final.
I think may apply to millions more.
19 Oct 2011, 09:08 am
Yip!
19 Oct 2011, 09:08 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-70:
We didn’t build several new stadia. The only new one was in Dunedin.
All the others were upgraded to what will be best expected crowds for future fixtures.
I am surprised though.
Based on all the ballyhoo coming from some Saffa’s in the last year or so about New Zealand’s small stadiums and how they pale into insignificance campared to everything SA has, you folk were all as one in your delight they were built.
19 Oct 2011, 09:13 am
Well that’s it. I’m canceling the cheque I sent to the NZRU. If they can’t make money out of that kind of interest and those kind of figures, they don’t deserve to get to 2015.
I urge you all to boycott the “Bald Blacks” shave-a-thon too. I think it’s a scam.
19 Oct 2011, 09:19 am
@RL(RL)-72:
Did you watch the Lions vs Sharks game last weekend.
19 Oct 2011, 09:21 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-75:
You bast ard!
The NZRU were relying on your contribution.
19 Oct 2011, 09:22 am
These stats are meaningless; bit like saying there was more daylight in the summer compared to the winter
19 Oct 2011, 09:27 am
@Brads(Brads)-74:
ok.
but those refurbishments ran into many millions and possiblt hundreds of millions. will you agree that crowd attendance in nz is a problem? the estimates made before these things are consstructed are always made in the most optimistic (even though unlikliest to be true) manner.
also consider all the other non (immediately related to) stadia infrastructural developments that were undertaken. i cannot recall the bulk of it off the top of my head right now but had followed your papers at the times they were being discussed. two thatcome to mind are a waterfront/ship berthing development and i think an airport development which were soley undertaken as a result of the rwc hosting and it needs.
i can go through the archives if you want but there were many, many more.
yes, of course we want you guys to have good stadia and more importantly to fill them up while watching/supporting the game we love as much as you do.
all i’m saying is there’s no need to make it out to be something its not in terms of the costs involved in putting these things on.
believe me, we know well the costs of such and are/have in no way sugar coated it.
19 Oct 2011, 09:28 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-66:
19 Oct 2011, 09:33 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-75:
fair enough.
it probably would have bounced anyway.
I don’t think those old Volkskas Bank accounts are active anymore.
19 Oct 2011, 09:34 am
See post 22.
19 Oct 2011, 09:35 am
Wee man
You forgot to mention how the weekends WC viewership records were shattered here in Spain
A mighty total of one person watched the weekends action on a dodgy stream that crashed more than it worked
19 Oct 2011, 09:35 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-79:
Yes and no.
The stadia were definitely set at the high end of what would normally be expected for a best event in the regine where the venue is.
However, the sheer cost of the tickets was appalling, hence the empty seats.
That said, RWC11 Ltd budgeted for a $68 million loss from the outset. That figure relates to staging the event, but excludes infrastructure. On the income side the only source of this was ticket sales.
Everything else went directly to the IRB.
So the loss is now estimated to be $50 million, which to a non sports person is terrible, but to everyone else it is better than planned and that must be hailed as a success.
19 Oct 2011, 09:36 am
See post 29…
19 Oct 2011, 09:39 am
@Bod(bod)-83:
serves you right for trying to piggyback your neighbours interweb and his wife.
19 Oct 2011, 09:40 am
@Brads(Brads)-74:
Are you telling me thats a new stadium in Dunedin???
Yegads
Maybe the architect did have a plan to try and recreate the old Soweto Staduim… or maybe there was just no architect…
19 Oct 2011, 09:43 am
@Gunther(gunther)-86:
My neighbours internet and wife are out….. fullstop
ol Miguel has four 16 bore shotguns and a pack of rabid hunting dogs and his wife has a beard
19 Oct 2011, 09:46 am
@Bod(bod)-87:
The Poms seemed to think it was the best thing next to tossing dwarfs.
Fully enclosed stadium with natural grass, not some thin vaneer over a concrete base a few inches below the surface.
Brilliant
19 Oct 2011, 09:47 am
@Gunther(gunther)-81: It was a Saambou account. And there should still be R75 in it.
And anyway, I’m not using it. I’m simply channeling the funds from my dead uncle thrice removed in Lagos (who I only learnt about last week). I’ve given the friendly gentleman who emailed me the NZRU’s banking details to use.
Have I done right?
19 Oct 2011, 09:49 am
@Bod(bod)-88:
well.
at least a beard gives you soemthing to hang on to.
@>^..^< katman(katman)-90:
absolutely.
make da circle beeega.
19 Oct 2011, 09:51 am
Who’s playing in the curried cup this weekend, viewing numbers in sa will be through the roof
19 Oct 2011, 09:52 am
@Brads(Brads)-84:
goodness brads,
you know better than this man, why make it into an argument? or at the least, why drag it out?
we/i are/am saying that the whole show has cost you a helluva lot of money…like the fwc cost us…and thats because you add up the infrastructure + hosting + nzru (the price it takes as a whole to make the black machine so successful) costs all together and that this is the true cost of the bladdy thing…dont do a smoke and mirrors…there’s no need to.
we spent a helluva lot more money than we were ever going to make back on the fwc…we admitted it from the get go…you, in turn, have spent a helluva lot more money than you were ever going to make back on the rwc…why have a problem with admitting it?
yes, you budgeted for a loss (remember a LOSS) but thats just a loss for the ‘company’ hosting/putting on the party…i.e: the rwc show as we’ve experienced it over the last two months.
19 Oct 2011, 09:52 am
@Brads(Brads)-89:
mmmmm…….. so the Poma enjoyed it eh?
Kinda puts it into perspective…..
19 Oct 2011, 09:57 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-93:
I fail to see the issue.
We knew it was going to cost an arm and a leg from the outset.
Except it has only cost an arm and half a leg.
19 Oct 2011, 09:57 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-92:
Indeed Chinakins, especially when you add the regulars being yourself, Tackles and Pops to the figures
19 Oct 2011, 09:59 am
@Gunther(gunther)-91:
You seem….. er……. well versed in these type of things
19 Oct 2011, 10:02 am
@Bod(bod)-94:
Well you do have a valid point there.
But to be fair, playing sport in Dunedin in the middle of winter would have been a dire experience for all teams, including the locals when the venue was the Brook.
We just need to come up with a nick name for the place. Preferably one that pisses off the owners, like the Cake Tin does to the Wellington City Council.
19 Oct 2011, 10:03 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-93: well said. this was even factored in by the irb when awarding NZ the world cup.
The IRB had made a calculated decision to pair a return to New Zealand – a spiritual home of rugby but yielding lower revenues – with a high-grossing event in England. Deciding two World Cup hosts at a time allowed some risks to be taken, he said.
“I think it’s good that in this modern era, the council was prepared to take a decision that wasn’t just based on, ‘where can we get the most money?’,” he said. “Whether we come back to New Zealand at some point? Look, I’m sure the World Cup will come back here at some point. It’s just that there are so many other countries that want to host now that it will be a while.”
19 Oct 2011, 10:03 am
@Bod(bod)-94:
indeedy.
all of a sardine a poms opinion counts for something.
we live and learn.
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.