Each week 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…
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JOINT DEAL A WIN-WIN FOR IRISH RUGBY FANS AND MEDIA
We called it perhaps the most important deal in the commercial world of Irish sport this year. The agreement between Six Nations Rugby, Virgin Media and RTÉ to keep the Guinness Six Nations Men’s, Women’s and U20 tournaments on free to air is a big win for the sport and fans.
It is a first of a kind partnership where the broadcasters will share coverage of each of the tournaments on a rotating basis. That makes it more likely that it will be an even number of years in the contract when it is finalised so that the two stations will get an equal number of the most important games.
Given the CVC Private Equity Investment, and the continued absence of the tournament from a protected list for live coverage, there had been fears that the games would go behind a paywall but that has now been put on a back burner.
Read our analysis of what the new deal means right here.
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GAAGo OFFERING SEASON PASS FOR ONLY €25
GAAGO.ie will once again stream a substantial portion of Allianz League games in 2021, ensuring visibility for matches before spectators are allowed back into grounds around the country.
The streaming service, a joint venture ahead of its time when it was launched back in May 2014 by the GAA and RTÉ, will exclusively host 54 games across all four divisions of the Allianz Football League, and Divisions 1A and 1B of the Allianz Hurling League.
Any game from those divisions that is not televised on RTÉ TG4 or eir Sport will be available for streaming worldwide including Ireland.
Live coverage begins this coming weekend with 14 games including Mayo v Down in Division 2 Football, and Clare v Wexford and Kilkenny v Antrim in Division 1 Hurling.
Later weeks will see Galway v Roscommon and Tyrone v Monaghan in Division 1 Football. The full schedule will be confirmed as the Leagues progress, with commentary from Marty Morrissey, Darragh Maloney and Ger Canning among others.
There are a number of new initiatives planned for this year as well which we will learn about at the Sport for Business Streaming Sport event on May 27th.
As a result of Covid-19 restrictions, this is the second year the service will grant fans at home the ability to stream inter-county GAA games live or on-demand in 1080p HD.
In the truncated 2020 season, the platform played host to 21 Allianz League and 11 Championship games, having previously been available only to those living outside of Ireland.
There will be a charge but one for the whole season including Allianz League and Championship matches, likely to be more than 60 in total, at a cost of only €25.
Individual matches will be priced at €5 for Allianz League games and €8 for Championship matches.
Read More about the GAAGo Service for this year.
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JOIN US FOR STREAMING SPORT IN 2021
Our next Sport for Business Conference which will look in-depth at the world of Sports Streaming.
No single factor has emerged as a bigger opportunity for sport, and a bigger positive for fans than the growth of awareness of what streaming is capable of.
From professional leagues to local clubs, streaming technology has democratised the ability to deliver live sporting content to audiences at local and global level.
On the morning of Thursday, May 27th we will look under the covers of what the streaming revolution will mean for sporting bodies, sponsors, fans and media companies.
Each of the four conferences we have hosted this year has attracted strong audiences of hundreds of sporting and business leaders from across Ireland and around the world.
Sport for Business Streaming Sport in 2021 will be the same.
We will be announcing our line up of subjects and speakers over the coming days but you can reserve your spot by registering at the link below.
REGISTER TO JOIN US, FREE IF YOUR ORGANISATION IS A MEMBER OF SPORT FOR BUSINESS
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COVERAGE OF WOMEN’S SPORT IN THE SPORT FOR BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
The latest Sport for Business Review of Irish Sports Media has shown a rise in the amount of coverage devoted to Women’s Sport, driven by coverage of the Six Nations Rugby that took place during the month of April.
We selected three Saturdays through the month, representative of the biggest sporting day of the week, to look at the percentage of coverage given over to Women’s sport in each of the three main newspapers in Ireland, two of the most significant online channels and the English Daily telegraph as a point of comparison.
The coverage was wider than would have been the case last year when the Six Nations competed with the men’s game. This year it was the only international rugby on show and while there was no resumption yet of Gaelic games there was also coverage of the SSE Airtricity Women’s National League, the English Women’s Super League, Golf, Rowing and a selection of other sports.
The online channels performed very well with The42.ie hitting an average of almost one-third of coverage over the three Saturdays in question and RTE.ie getting to 22.5 per cent.
Read more and see the visual representation of how each of the six media channels performed.
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HONG KONG GOVERNMENT BUYS RIGHTS TO OLYMPICS
We are fortunate in Ireland to be part of the Eurovision broadcast network, ensuring that coverage of Olympic Games is secure on a free to air basis in the long term.
As diverse models appear and assert in broadcasting though that might not always be the case and a vision of the future could be possible looking at Hong Kong. After a €30 million price tag to broadcast the Tokyo Olympic Games proved too much for local broadcasters, the Government stepped in to but the rights which will now be distributed across free to air channels and two pay-TV networks.
Production costs will still have to be met and there will be an obligation to cover all Hong Kong athletes taking part.
“It would have been a great pity if the people of Hong Kong had no chance to watch, free of charge, the Tokyo Olympic Games and to support all Chinese and Hong Kong athletes,” said Hong Kong Premier Carrie Lam.
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RUGBY FINALS TO BE STREAMED BY RIGHTS IN DARK MARKETS
The Heineken Champions Cup Final on May 22 between Toulouse and La Rochelle, as well as the Challenge Cup Final the previous evening between Montpellier and Leicester Tigers and will both be offered live and on-demand in international ‘dark markets’ where no TV rights exist by LIVENow streaming service which has both the rights.
The matches are priced at €14.99 each or €19.99 for both, more than was being charged for a season pass when the EPCR established their own OTT streaming service for similar markets in 2019.
That was perhaps a toe in the water to see whether the market would be sufficient to attract a partner, as was clearly the case. It is a step back towards traditional models of selling rights though, rather than controlling your own broadcast and may become a hybrid model on how others will follow suit.
In Ireland, the games will be shown on Virgin Media One for the Champions and BT Sport on the Sky Sports Premium Package for the Challenge Cup.
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PODCAST OF THE WEEK
One of the joys of an established series is dipping into the archives to find an episode that might be relevant now to an even greater degree. The High-Performance Podcast with Jake Humphrey is on many people’s lists and this week we went back to the last series to listen again to Toto Woolf, the team principal at Mercedes who has landed seven consecutive Double Championships becoming the most successful leader the sport has ever known. He is humble, looks in the eye rather than over the CV when hiring and doesn’t like to see dirty coffee cups lying around.
RTÉ, Sky Sports, OTB, TG4, Nemeton TV, TVM, Iris Productions, Pundit Arena and Balls.ie are among the more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
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