Prime switch cuts rugby viewers

All Blacks Joe Rokocoko and Mils Muliaina try the other side of the lens in 2003. Picture / Brett Phibbs

About 130,000 fewer viewers are watching rugby this year - and the number watching the free-to-air coverage has slumped by over 60 per cent since Prime took over from TV3.

Prime took over the rights to the delayed coverage in February in a deal with its new owner, Sky Television, after TV3 pulled out, saying it would be commercially unrealistic to bid higher because it would not want to screen NPC or Super 14 games other than finals in prime time.

While TV3 could draw about 75 per cent of the audience that watched the live games on Sky, Prime gets only 30 per cent of that.

The combined audiences of the live games on Sky and delayed coverage on Prime have dropped by nearly 30 per cent, with 130,000 fewer people watching each game on average.

CanWest MediaWorks spokesman Roger Beaumont said initial fears about the shift to Prime had been realised.

"If you can't afford Sky and also live in one of the many parts of the country without Prime reception, then no rugby for you, and that is a very sad situation for our national game."

Sky chief executive John Fellett said viewer numbers on free-to-air would have suffered under TV3 as well, because it had refused to continue showing NPC or Super 14 games in prime time, other than finals.

"So I'm not so sure the ratings would have been much different if the rugby had stayed with TV3."

He said the Prime deal was not finalised until the end of February, which left little time for the games to be promoted - a problem which would not happen next year.

However, Prime will be hoping for better numbers from the All Black tests, including the Tri-Nations series which starts next weekend.

At the time of the bid, Prime was hoping the rugby would boost its overall share of the audience, saying at the time it had put in an "aggressive" bid, but a 1 per cent increase in audience would make it worth while.

Its prime time audience shares over the Super 14 period from March to May are down from last year - slipping from 4.9 per cent last May to 4.2 per cent this May.

In theory, Prime can reach about 90 per cent of the population. However, viewers either have to install a UHF aerial or subscribe to Sky to receive it, and it is not clear what proportion of houses can get it.

Sky holds the rights to the rugby until the end of 2010 and there is hope for households without Prime reception if it signs up to the Freeview digital platform. But that may be some time off.

Mr Fellett said that if Prime joined the Freeview platform, it would get the same coverage as the other major channels. However, Sky's deal with Sanzar means the free-to-air rugby cannot be broadcast via satellite, so Prime could only sign up for the terrestrial digital broadcast, which is initially expected to reach only 75 per cent of the country, achieving almost 100 per cent by about 2010.


* 202,000 - Average number of viewers who watched delayed Super 12 games on TV3 last year . 471,000 Combined TV3 and Sky audiences.

* 76,000 - Average number watching Super 14 on Prime this year.

* 334,000 - Combined Prime and Sky audiences.

Source: AGB Nielsen