The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

The Impact of Pay-TV on Sport: Cricket and Rugby Union & League

20/1/2014

1 Comment

 
By John Considine
Dr. Paul Rouse (University College Dublin) has a most interesting working paper on the relationship between Pay-TV and sport (here).  It is worth reading for the introduction alone.  In addition, the paper provides wonderful data on how the move of Heineken Cup games to Pay-TV has implications for the demographic profile of the Irish viewing audience.  To illustrate my point I have reproduced one of the figures from the Rouse paper below.  The figure shows the percentage of Irish household receiving Sky Sports 1 by social class.
Picture
The paper also examines what happened to the viewing audience for cricket in England.  Rouse examines what happened when Sky entered the market.  Initially, they started broadcasting away international matches in 1990 while the BBC retained the rights for home games to 1998.  In 1998 the government removed cricket games from the "protected list of broadcast events".  Examining the viewership figures for the period 2004 to 2007, Rouse highlights the fall in viewership.  He provides data comparing five days of audience figures for the first and second test against New Zealand in 2004.  The free-to-air Channel 4 figures are multiples of those for Sky.  For the 2004 Ashes series he says that there was a minimum of four times as many people watching on Channel 4 as on Sky.

The 2005 Ashes series was the high point for coverage on free-to-air TV.  Then the English Cricket Board signed a four year deal with Sky worth £220m.  When the deal was signed a total of 8m out of approximately 25m UK households had Sky.  For 2006 the estimated "average viewing figure was just 261,000 ... about one-third of the figure that used to watch on Channel 4".

The analysis in Paul Rouse's paper is similar to a case study presented in The Economics of Sports Broadcasting by Chris Gratton and Harry Arne Solberg.  The case study examines what happened to the broadcast demand for rugby league in the UK during the 1990s.  Table 1 below reproduces the viewing figures from the case study.  The figures for the years 1992-1995 refer to the BBC whereas the figures for 1996 to 1999 refer to Sky.  There is a clear reduction in viewing figures between 1995 and 1996.

As Lisa O'Keeffe (author of the case study) points out, it is possible that the figures include a drop in the popularity of rugby league.  To this end she produces viewership number for the Challange Cup final that was broadcast on the BBC for the full 1992-1999 period.  These numbers are reproduced in Table 2.  It seems that for the period in question rugby league is declining in popularity - although O'Keeffe raises the possibility that some of that decline could be as a result of the switch to Pay-TV.

The question for the sporting organisations is whether this decline in viewship is compensated by the higher revenues they get from the broadcasters.  Given their decisions it would seem that they think it is.  Of course there are issues of who gets to see the games.  This brings us to the politics of the issue.  Something that is discussed in detail in the paper by Paul Rouse.  It is worth reading (even if you are Minister Simon Coveney).
Picture
1 Comment
Nigel Preece link
24/1/2014 09:22:23 am

Sport is for all, not just for those who own a SKY dish.
No sport, no matter how well funded, can prosper in the long term if as many people as possible are prevented from watching it.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.