JOHN DAVIDSON


Exclusive: The television ratings for the 2021 men's and women's Super League grand finals, and the Million Pound Game, have been revealed.

Figures obtained by rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads show that the decider between Catalans and St Helens, won by Saints 12-10, on Saturday October 9, was watched by an average audience of 303,203 on Sky.

The grand final was watched by an average audience of 118,000 on Sky's Main Event channel, and 185,203 on Sky's Arena channel, giving the combined total figure of just over 300,00 viewers.

This year's figure is down drastically compared with 2020's audience, which was around 400,000 for Wigan vs St Helens in Hull. Of course, that decider was played behind closed doors with no fans in attendance, and at that time the UK was in full lockdown.

However, in comparison the 2019 grand final between Salford and St Helens was a record-breaking audience. At the time Super League claimed: "The 2019 Betfred Super League Grand Final has set a new Super League record for live TV audience since the competition's inception in1996.

"The number of people who watched the title decider between St Helens and Salford Red Devils live on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena was 43% higher than the figure for the same game in 2018 between Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors."

This year's women's Super League grand final, between Leeds and St Helens, was watched by an average audience of 37,397 on Sunday October 10.

The Million Pound Game, between Toulouse and Featherstone, was watched by an average audience of 132,511 on the Sunday as well. It was outrated that weekend only by the Super League men's grand final and the Darts World Grand Prix, which was watched by 162,762 people on Friday October 8.

Last month Super League claimed in a press release that the competition had received record regular season ratings this year.

It said: "The Betfred Super League Play-Offs kick-off tonight (23 September) on the back of record regular season TV audiences. The competition continues to grow in popularity with Sky Sports viewers with both aggregate and average audiences rising and the average audience for 2021 being the highest in the last six years sitting at over 150,000.

The season got off to a flying start with Catalans Dragons golden point victory over Hull KR in Round 1, reaching over half a million viewers. The French side went on to claim the League Leaders’ Shield for the first time in their history becoming the first non-UK based club to claim this honour. This unique story has meant that Catalans viewing figures over this season are 21% up previous years.

More games than ever before broke the 200,000-viewer mark. These games involved 10 different clubs showing that the game’s popularity with viewers was across the board.

Great viewing figures, yet a lower TV deal. Explain that one

I think I fit the thread title perfectly

Just my take on it but I think those viewer figures point to a loyal supporter base and perhaps as well, the fact that a lot of folks were still apprehensive about watching live sport due to Covid and thus watched on Sky. I know a few folks who have taken up Sky during the pandemic to get their 'rugby fix' that way because they were not attending our games.

The now departed Super League Chief Executive touted the game widely across the various media outlets but the fact is no one else but sky was interested in offering a reasonable bid and so market forces dictated that if they were the only bidders Sky could chance their arm and offer less, knowing that in the current market place they would still get the contract. Competition for a product that is in demand is what we need, with a product that other Broadcasters are desperate to get their hands on. The product is great but our profile and image as a sport is not,.

The constant chopping and changing of rules and formats and an ineffective governing body and marketing arm etc leads to a lack of national profile which means that as a sport we are a long way off creating that media demand at present!

Very geekish this, The Men, Women’s and Wheelchair RL World Cup was due to kick off this weekend and to celebrate it, The Royal Mail introduced a special stamp set for RU Men and Women’s 6 Nations games, with the last stamp depicting the winning drop goal from 2003 World Cup final. That just about sums up the establishment’s view of our sport for me.