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…
This week we look at two initiatives from TG4, the decline of viewing in Baseball, the staggering rise of the Women’s Super League and we dropped in on a podcast featuring Fintan Drury…
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TG4 COMMITS TO BASKETBALL
TG4 has extended its relationship with Basketball by committing to show the two upcoming Eurobasket 2023 European Qualifiers from the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
The Ireland International Women’s team will take on the Czech Republic on the evening of Saturday, November 14th. Two weeks later the Men will be on the court against Austria.
The shows will be presented by Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh, with commentary by Mac Dara Mac Donncha.
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WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE MAKES STRONG START
Research from Nielsen Sports has revealed that the English Women’s Super League, where Katie McCabe was awarded Player of the Month for October this week, is heading towards being the fourth most-watched sports competition across all channels in the UK.
An average of 501,000 viewers are tuning in for games shown live and free to air on the BBC with an average of 114,000 for each of the games being shown on Sky Sports.
This is the first year of a three year deal that is transforming the engagement with the League and clearly delivering for all sides.
The research also reveals a younger demographic being drawn to the games with 35 per cent of the audience between the ages of 16 and 30, compared to a comparable 26 per cent in the Men’s game.
Fan engagement is spreading to social media channels as well. The combined following of Chelsea, Arsenal Tottenham and Manchester United on Facebook and Instagram has risen 22 per cent since the start of the season in September and now stands at 14.4 million.
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UNDERDOGS RETURN
TG4 has brought back one of our favourite shows with the return of Underdogs.
This year they have gone back to Ladies Football, arguably looking to recreate the best series over the past 11 years, where the storytelling was on a different level altogether and the strains of Leona Lewis’ cover of Snow Patrol’s Run still bring back fond memories to this day.
The show is based on the premise of finding and moulding a team of Gaelic footballers that have come close to ‘County’ but not quite, or maybe not yet, made the breakthrough.
They are found, then cut, then trained, then cut, then finally filmed in a live game against a major inter-county team.
It’s the sporting equivalent of those talent shows that play with our emotions and still find an occasional gem.
And it’s homegrown, conducted through a hybrid of Irish and English, and just damned good television.
Mickey Ned O’ Sullivan, Kevin Cassidy and Michelle Ryan are the managers and it all got underway last night with a repeat on Saturday.
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WORLD SERIES RATINGS
The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astro’s in the Baseball World Series this week but the TV viewing audience was disappointing.
Not quite at the lowest ever level recorded for last year’s series of an average viewership of 9.7 million but the 11.7 million was still the second-lowest ever.
At least it does stop a decline which had been in evidence for five consecutive years. In 2016 the average was 23.4 million, the highest since the all-time modern peak of 25.4 million seen in 2004.
It then went to 18.9 million, 14.1 million, 13.9 million and 9.78 million of 2020.
One bright spot was the 13.9 million that tuned in for the clinching Game 6 this week, higher than the equivalent NBA Finals game.
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WE HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO…
Our podcast listening this week included The Currency interview with Fintan Drury who has been a key player in the sporting and business landscape and has just published his autobiography.
Dion Fanning took him on a tour through the highs and lows ranging from his first foray into football representation with the Irish team at Italia ’90, through to his regret at the time spent in the gambling world as Chairman of Paddy Power.
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