Fox Sports' decision to give Channel Nine A$20M ($15.1M) for the right to simulcast three additional National Rugby League matches per round has seen it enjoy a 73% "increase in total viewers from last season," according to Michael Chammas of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. But "was it money well spent?" Channel Nine, for A$20M and eight minutes of advertising a game, "allowed Fox Sports to simulcast three matches this season." It has led to an 11% drop in overall ratings for Channel Nine "compared to the previous year." In return, Fox Sports has turned a 32% share of the market into a 47.4% share "over the course of 12 months." On the surface it sounds as though Fox Sports "has enjoyed gigantic growth as part of their multimillion-dollar investment," but Channel Nine Dir of Sport Tom Malone said that "the change in the rugby league landscape was as expected when the deal was struck." Malone insists that "he is more concerned with the overall growth of the sport" (15% increase in viewers from '15) given that exclusive coverage of this year's State of Origin series yielded the network's largest ratings and A$14M ($10.6M) in revenue. Malone: "It's been a good commercial deal for Nine." Channel Nine's decision to end its experiment with the second Friday night game and broadcast live Thursday night football was a success, "but ratings took a hit for Sunday afternoon football." Nine's total viewers decreased from 57.3 million in '15 to 50.8 million in '16, "while Fox Sports -- with the addition of three extra games -- enjoyed a jump from 26.6 million to 45.7 million." Fox Sports Head of Live Sport & News Steve Crawley said the network was enjoying a 9% increase in viewers per game shown, which included a 15% spike "in its exclusively live matches." Crawley said, "Twenty million dollars is a lot of money, having said that we are thrilled with how NRL on Fox has gone this year" (SMH, 9/5).
