Quote The Reaper="The Reaper"Remember listening to a podcast a few months ago where they talked through something that had been said by the IMG guys, which basically said our viewing numbers are good but it just doesn't matter to broadcasters in terms of them offering us more money or getting others interested, as they can't charge well for advertising slots during the rugby. Our entire fanbase is viewed as working class, low disposable income northerners and thus they can't sell advertisement slots to any high end brands or products as we are viewed as not being able to afford them/unwilling to buy and the companies aren't willing to pay for those slots and only low cost/budget brands will.
Very sad and there's literally nothing we can do to shift that perception as you'd have to say that by and large it's fairly accurate. The only hope we have is growing our audience and expanding it beyond that typical tight northerner stereotype. We really do need as much free to air coverage as possible, try and get into the mainstream media more etc. I'm hopeful that IMGs vision of expanding RL and the clubs' digital audience is a step in the right direction on that front. It's going to be a very long, very slow journey to try and grow the sport, if it's even possible at all. But to have any chance we really do need to embrace the digital marketing side of things.'"
That's a very interesting post and point of view on income generation for the RFL.
