Currie Cup still top TV dog | Front Row Grunt
July 24, 2012 in Currie Cup, Rugby, Super Rugby
Currie Cup still top TV dog
July 24, 2012 by Tank | 4 Comments
There has been much talk about the demise of the Currie Cup due to the new Super Rugby tournament structure, but it seems that the grand old dame of South African rugby is made of sterner stuff! Below a look at the TV numbers of all this year’s rugby tournament in comparison with last year’s Currie Cup numbers:
One obviously needs to take cognisance of the amount of Super Rugby being played, and that a large number of those games shown on TV would be between two teams from either Australia or New Zealand, or between an SA side and one of our SANZAR partners (and thus only attracting one fan base), but to see the average viewership per Currie Cup game subtantially bigger than Super Rugby is an indication of the strngth of local rugby in South Africa.
SARU no doubt base discussions with SANZAR on numbers like these, assuming that the Currie Cup will always be strong. But it will be interesting to see how the Currie Cup does this year – in the second year of the new S15 structure. The fact that it is back to being a six side “Strength vs strength” tournament will no doubt keep it attractive, but if 2016 is all about making Super Rugby even bigger, this is the tournament that will suffer …
A%2
lobo said on July 25, 2012
Wazzup, Uysh?
powa said on July 26, 2012
He’s alive!!!!! The lone wolf returns
Met uysh said on July 26, 2012
Wow! Great to see you Lobo! Glad to see you are still lurking around….
The Dutchman said on July 25, 2012
I am afraid of what the extended Rugby Championship will do to the viewership of the CC, I have always loved the CC for the simple reason that is Proudly South African, but if I had to choose between a Bulls vs WP game and there is a Sprinbok game on the other channel, I would rather watch the Boks. Now if the Cheetahs were playing, the Boks can kiss my orange ass.
Maybe that is what it is about the CC, like you mentioned, if it is a SA vs SA team, viewership is for sure higher, and provincial supporters will show loyalty above all else.
Long live the CC!
Met uysh said on July 25, 2012
My comment on Tank’s post:
Met Uysh
July 24, 2012 at 11:49
Agree Tank, will be very interesting to see how the Currie Cup this year is impacted. The exclusion of the Leopards and Pumas will perhaps not have such a big impact on the total numbers because very few of their games were actually broadcast last year and the average viewers should pick up as a result. However, its the stadiums that will start to run empty because of all the rugby.
No problem looking on TV at it at home how the same two teams play each other 4 (in this case even 5) times a year, but buying tickets to attend all of them is another issue. We’ve already seen how empty the Shark Tank, Ellis Park and Loftus has become and that was with top class Super Rugby matches. The longevity of the Currie Cup may rely a bit more on physical attendance than TV viewers though…
powa said on July 24, 2012
Won’t be for long.
REM said on July 24, 2012
As ek dink aan die Currie Cup dink ek aan…”n sakkie droee bokkoms en n samoosa”