Each Wednesday we take a look at the world of the Irish and international sports media, the stories, the numbers and the organisations that are, more than ever before, our window on the world of sport…

 

SIX NATIONS RIGHTS ‘NOT BINARY’

At yesterday’s virtual launch of the Guinness Six Nations, CEO Ben Morel spoke about the fact that nothing had yet started with regard to the broadcast contracts for the competition from 2022.

“Conversations around the United Kingdom and Ireland rights from next year will start in the coming weeks and we will be talking to all of the various broadcasters,” he said.

“Our six unions will look to strike the right balance between the financing of growing the game, and the exposure and the aspirational content we can bring to new audiences in order for growth to have a platform. That balance is going to be the same as it has been before.”

“At the same time, the way consumers and fans consume sport and content is fast evolving.

“I don’t think it’s quite as binary as free-to-air and paywall, there are a lot of possibilities on the spectrum. At the same time, you need to factor in those changing habits too.”

Virgin Media have the contract for the final year of their current four-year term in 2021. Discussions will also take into account the timing and scale of proposed private investment in the tournament and the financial challenges that the unions are facing in the immediate term.

 

RTÉ SPORT AWARDS TONIGHT

RTÉ Sport will host the 2020 RTÉ Sport Awards on RTÉ One television tonight with the half-hour show getting underway at 1015.

It will be very reduced on previous years where a full studio audience contributed to a review of each of the main sporting highlights of the year.

Joanne Cantwell and Darragh Moloney will still be the presenters but the focus will be on the four awards for Team of the Year, Manager of the Year, Young Sportsperson and Sportsperson of the year.

We will have a full report on the programme and the winners on Sport for Business tomorrow morning.

SUPERBOWL AD RATES DROPPING

The SuperBowl takes place in Tampa on Sunday, February 7th but it will do so without some of the biggest names in the marketing game as brands shift their priorities in this strangest of years.

Each of Budweiser, Hyundai and Coca Cola have revealed they will not be producing fresh advertising for this year, as has been traditionally the case.

The biggest game and TV event of the year is broadcast between the different stations on a cyclical basis and this year it is the turn of CBS.

The cost of a thirty-second spot for this year’s game has been set at $5.5 million, down slightly on the high water mark of $5.6 million achieved last year.

 

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