AFL announces 4.5billion, 7 year media deal (2025-2031 inclusive)

JohnZ

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Mar 10, 2016
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Not for the dollars into footy, the clubs, the players ....
The days of footy being a loss leader are gone.
What marquee games do we currently have? Friday Night, and about 6 Thursday Night games. It's so stupid.

We know that Thursday and Friday night games rate well on TV, and would increase the value of the rights (if rights stayed the same, the rights holders would make more money from advertising). Sunday Night is huge for TV, all the biggest shows have been on Sunday nights, Big Brother, MAFS etc. It's the most prime of prime time.

Perth teams are crying out for a marquee fixture. 4pm/5pm local time on a Sunday Arvo (7pm east coast) would put both teams well into the national spotlight every week. If Ch10 showed it, could push it earlier to 6pm eastern (3pm/4pm AWST). The AFL is so stupid when it comes to maximising the use of its timezones. In the festival of footy last year, the AFL played a game in perth at 5pm eastern, followed by a game in Brisbane at 8pm eastern. Why not flip that and push it later? The mind boggles.

That's a very long-winded way of saying that the AFL has the capacity to create more marquee slots that bring in the advertising $$$. Making sure that the only games that overlap are the Saturday 2pm games (lowest advertising $$ slot, but traditional and good for fan engagement so has a pay off).

Fox already arcing up over the local broadcast rules. I dont expect that to be in the next media contract.
I think we'll find the next media rights are a lot more segmented than they currently are. A return back to the days of 2002
 
Aug 14, 2011
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What marquee games do we currently have? Friday Night, and about 6 Thursday Night games. It's so stupid.

We know that Thursday and Friday night games rate well on TV, and would increase the value of the rights (if rights stayed the same, the rights holders would make more money from advertising). Sunday Night is huge for TV, all the biggest shows have been on Sunday nights, Big Brother, MAFS etc. It's the most prime of prime time.

Perth teams are crying out for a marquee fixture. 4pm/5pm local time on a Sunday Arvo (7pm east coast) would put both teams well into the national spotlight every week. If Ch10 showed it, could push it earlier to 6pm eastern (3pm/4pm AWST). The AFL is so stupid when it comes to maximising the use of its timezones. In the festival of footy last year, the AFL played a game in perth at 5pm eastern, followed by a game in Brisbane at 8pm eastern. Why not flip that and push it later? The mind boggles.

That's a very long-winded way of saying that the AFL has the capacity to create more marquee slots that bring in the advertising $$$. Making sure that the only games that overlap are the Saturday 2pm games (lowest advertising $$ slot, but traditional and good for fan engagement so has a pay off).


I think we'll find the next media rights are a lot more segmented than they currently are. A return back to the days of 2002

You might be surprised how many people wont sit down for game after game, let alone be sold on marketing hype such as marquee games.

The days when FTA was king are long gone, 2002 you say?
 

big_e

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What will be interesting if that eventuates is how the scheduling will work - I doubt anyone wants to buy the Friday night game and then have to screen North v Bulldogs. At the moment the AFL can put whatever they want in the premium slots and there's not a lot Channel 7 can do about it other than complain. I suspect if the AFL starts selling timeslots then there's going to be some contractually enforced input from the buyer as to who actually plays in that slot.
The AFL already puts premium games in premium spots. How many primetime games has Freo had lately, compared to Richmond, for instance? Need I mention the Carlton Friday night schedule a few years back? Some teams draw more eyeballs, and the AFL find a way to get them in the best slots
 
Jul 2, 2010
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You might be surprised how many people wont sit down for game after game, let alone be sold on marketing hype such as marquee games.

The days when FTA was king are long gone, 2002 you say?

Thats not borne out by ratings data, in a sporting context. FTA very much more watched - in the AFLs case 3x as many people
 

big_e

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I beg to differ, it is a business model & even though you (or me) cannot calculate data (ROI ?) does not mean they will spend money with no eye to the bottom line for their shareholders.
Key metric for subscription businesses is lifetime value of a customer. They know that every new customer is worth $x to them because once they sign up, they typically stay for years. ROI for each show is irrelevant to them. It really is. You only need to consider the market cap of these companies compared to their profitability to see that traditional metrics no longer matter.
 

JohnZ

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You might be surprised how many people wont sit down for game after game, let alone be sold on marketing hype such as marquee games.

The days when FTA was king are long gone, 2002 you say?
Did you respond to anything I wrote?

I'm not saying people will sit down for every game, most people won't. Ratings will naturally be higher if you don't schedule conflicting games in higher rating spots (like Saturday night). You don't have to agree with my nomenclature, but I'm sure Freo and WCE would love to be on national TV every 2nd week on a Sunday night which is the most popular time to watch TV in Australia.

North built friday nights into what it is today, before the 90s the thought of playing footy on a friday night was laughable. there's an opportunity for the perth teams to build something for themselves too and get some good coin for it.
 
Jul 2, 2010
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Quite right, however the money is what defines the media rights strategy of the AFL.

To a large extent yes, but its not absolute. Compromises have been made in the past - local broadcasts arent exactly broadcaster friendly, sunday nights and monday nights were greatly reduced to cater for attendances, and Thrusday night is being treated the same way. The grand final is another case. All of these are compromises on the dollar deliberately made by the Commission.
 
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The AFL already puts premium games in premium spots. How many primetime games has Freo had lately, compared to Richmond, for instance? Need I mention the Carlton Friday night schedule a few years back? Some teams draw more eyeballs, and the AFL find a way to get them in the best slots

Not at all, there's plenty of examples over the last 5 years of the AFL trying to kowtow to certain clubs having little regard to ratings. Remember Carlton getting about half a dozen Friday night games a few years ago? Although this year they don't have any excuses given they're scheduling only a few weeks in advance.
 

big_e

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Not at all, there's plenty of examples over the last 5 years of the AFL trying to kowtow to certain clubs having little regard to ratings. Remember Carlton getting about half a dozen Friday night games a few years ago? Although this year they don't have any excuses given they're scheduling only a few weeks in advance.
The Carlton games were because they expected then to rate well.
 
They just scheduled St Kilda v Geelong on Friday night....you really think they did that for ratings?
I do. Eagles-Crows and Power-Bulldogs were off the table (five-day breaks), so what was the better option? The other games that round are all likely to be thrashings (except hopefully not Hawks-Roos, but that's still 17th v 18th).
 
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I do. Eagles-Crows and Power-Bulldogs were off the table (five-day breaks), so what was the better option? The other games that round are all likely to be thrashings (except hopefully not Hawks-Roos, but that's still 17th v 18th).

Firstly, I didn't think 5 day breaks were off the table, but even then Sydney v Collingwood would likely rate significantly higher. To be honest, only really the Q Clash and the Hawthorn North game would have been likely to rate worse.
 

JohnZ

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They just scheduled St Kilda v Geelong on Friday night....you really think they did that for ratings?
Three games at Marvel in Rd9

Geelong/Saints, Richmond/GWS, Essendon/Freo.

Take your pick, none of them are exactly gonna light the town on fire.
 
Firstly, I didn't think 5 day breaks were off the table
The agreement with the Players' Association is one five-day break per team, is it not. It seems like a futile exercise to second guess the AFL about when those should be deployed, given the staggered release of the fixture and all other contingencies that have to be considered this year.

but even then Sydney v Collingwood would likely rate significantly higher.
I must have misunderstood your "history of ratings figures" comment. Thought the implication was that clubs don't rate well when they're not competitive, even if they're a big club from Melbourne.
 
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I must have misunderstood your "history of ratings figures" comment. Thought the implication was that clubs don't rate well when they're not competitive, even if they're a big club from Melbourne.

I was saying Carlton are not a high rating club - now that's likely because they've been s**t for 20 years. But when the AFL decided to plunk them on Friday nights every second week they simply did not have the data to suggest that they would rate well (even if they did have a good year). They did it more to kowtow to Carlton rather than the pursuit of high ratings.
 

JohnZ

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Wasn't sure where to put this, feel free to move it.

On the couch last night talking about how we can modify the fixture so that games get clear air.

Rds 1 to 4, 23 and 24 have 9 games each
Thursday 7pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm
Saturday 5pm
Saturday 8pm
Sunday 12.30pm
Sunday 3.20pm
Sunday 6.10pm

With the 9th game to be played probably at Saturday 2pm, but open to float.

Rds 5 to 22 have 8 games each, which means teams get two byes during that period, and that 9th floating game goes away. If there are public holidays in rounds 5 to 22, the Sunday 12.30pm or 6.10pm game gets moved depending on if there's a game on the Monday or not.

The Sunday 6.10pm game can be played in WA (honestly could be played at 7pm after the news if on Ch7, 6pm works great for Ch10), or it could be played at Friday 10pm (with the other Friday game moved to 7pm). Time for the WA teams to get a marquee slot they can make their own and use the timezone to their advantage rather than disadvantage (ie "night" games played at 2pm lol).
 

NoobPie

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Wasn't sure where to put this, feel free to move it.

On the couch last night talking about how we can modify the fixture so that games get clear air.

Rds 1 to 4, 23 and 24 have 9 games each
Thursday 7pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm
Saturday 5pm
Saturday 8pm
Sunday 12.30pm
Sunday 3.20pm
Sunday 6.10pm

With the 9th game to be played probably at Saturday 2pm, but open to float.

Rds 5 to 22 have 8 games each, which means teams get two byes during that period, and that 9th floating game goes away. If there are public holidays in rounds 5 to 22, the Sunday 12.30pm or 6.10pm game gets moved depending on if there's a game on the Monday or not.

The Sunday 6.10pm game can be played in WA (honestly could be played at 7pm after the news if on Ch7, 6pm works great for Ch10), or it could be played at Friday 10pm (with the other Friday game moved to 7pm). Time for the WA teams to get a marquee slot they can make their own and use the timezone to their advantage rather than disadvantage (ie "night" games played at 2pm lol).

There's definitely a push from fox footy for Thursday nights. McGuire at some point over the weekend highlighted that someone needs to pay for it to happen and 7 are reluctant due to programing uncertainty.
 
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Wasn't sure where to put this, feel free to move it.

On the couch last night talking about how we can modify the fixture so that games get clear air.

Rds 1 to 4, 23 and 24 have 9 games each
Thursday 7pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm
Saturday 5pm
Saturday 8pm
Sunday 12.30pm
Sunday 3.20pm
Sunday 6.10pm

With the 9th game to be played probably at Saturday 2pm, but open to float.

Rds 5 to 22 have 8 games each, which means teams get two byes during that period, and that 9th floating game goes away. If there are public holidays in rounds 5 to 22, the Sunday 12.30pm or 6.10pm game gets moved depending on if there's a game on the Monday or not.

The Sunday 6.10pm game can be played in WA (honestly could be played at 7pm after the news if on Ch7, 6pm works great for Ch10), or it could be played at Friday 10pm (with the other Friday game moved to 7pm). Time for the WA teams to get a marquee slot they can make their own and use the timezone to their advantage rather than disadvantage (ie "night" games played at 2pm lol).

Its about the FIXture more than the footy rights next time.
 

JohnZ

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 10, 2016
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Not sure a 4.10 Sunday afternoon game is something any club would want to own.
A WA club would know it'll be facing a short week & travel in the following week, round after round.
Not the sort of thing a club would choose to do ?
8pm Friday and 4.40pm Sunday are both times regularly played in Melbourne, and can be regularly played in Perth too (10pm and 6.40pm eastern respectively). Both can be made in FTA marquee slots that gives additional exposure to WA clubs. Isn't that what we want? More FTA games which means more primetime games for clubs that make them more attractive to sponsors?
 
Aug 14, 2011
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8pm Friday and 4.40pm Sunday are both times regularly played in Melbourne, and can be regularly played in Perth too (10pm and 6.40pm eastern respectively). Both can be made in FTA marquee slots that gives additional exposure to WA clubs. Isn't that what we want? More FTA games which means more primetime games for clubs that make them more attractive to sponsors?
I support Gerards proposal, it was the idea that a WA club might want to own the last game of the round that prompted my post.
 

JohnZ

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 10, 2016
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I support Gerards proposal, it was the idea that a WA club might want to own the last game of the round that prompted my post.
If the game is on FTA, I think it's a no brainer. 7pm eastern is the most watched time on TV. If it's on Fox I agree it's not worth it. Plus there's enough Monday public holidays around the country that I reckon you could do 8 Sunday Nights in Perth, 8 Late Friday Nights in Perth and 8 Sunday Nights / Public Holiday games in other states. So it's not Freo getting all 11 home games at Sunday 4pm, but probably 4 to 6.
 
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