Relax a bit everyone! Although figures probably slightly down,a large number of people tune in for kick off.

Thus in the past programme average for 6pm sat game boosted by the fact programme was just 2hrs. Now thur programme is often 2hrs 45 min, but lots only watch 8 till 9.45, thus hitting the average.

The Aviva Prems average viewing figures on BT rose 40% last year to 119,000 and have risen another 6% this year which currently is beating SL viewing figures. When the RFL took SKYs cash for a long-term deal last time I remember the usual suspects on here saying that BT wouldn't last long etc so it was the right decision. Hmmm. As someone who watches both sports and channels, BT are miles ahead of the game.

Probably as BT Sport 1 + 2 is currently free if you're a BT broadband/line rental customer of which there are over 2 million including me. However as of 1 August that same service will cost another fiver a month to pay for the £900m European soccer rights. Because of this I've cancelled my BT Sport subscription ( & will do the same for Sky Sports) and am left with BT Sport lite.

Edit: It seems the union will still be available free.....

Free service v pay TV.

You don't get a very good deal if you mainly subscribe to sky sports for RL. To justify cost of subscription it should have three games a week plus a champ game plus two shows.

In oz fox subscription gets you every nrl game, SL games, under 20's games, nsw and Qland cup games and 7 NRL shows a week!

It doesn't matter if the Aviva Prem is free with broadband or pay tv (BT is a combination of both btw), its ratings have gone up by tens of thousands in two years on a channel that actually puts on a good show. Attendances for the AP have also gone up the last 2 years and is attributed by some fans as down to new BT viewers going to games. When the AP was on SKY it was seen by many fans as if SKY had lost interest in it. Does that ring any bells with anyone?

Damn, to go from 169k in 2012 to 114k in 2015, that is one hell of a drop off.
I'm trying to think if there are any mitigating factors that might explain the decline, other than people just losing interest.

Lets see how many people watch the test series in the autumn which is free to air on the BBC.that is a bigger indicator to me on interest in RL over sky and SL as i myself have sky and have been very close to ridding myself of the soccer obsessed company of late but have stayed as i do like golf,cricket and darts as well as RL and that is covered for me but it is very expensive as a package for what you get.i guess a fair few have canceled though in recent times.

Does anybody know if people who record the game or watch it on Sky Go are included in the figures. I for a while watched games on my iPad using one of my family members Sky as I didn't have it myself. Does that stuff factor into the figures because they'll have been a rise of people who do that.

Yes, the fact that the two televised matches have been moved from Friday-Saturday to Thursday-Friday, and the fact that William Eve's statistics are wholly unreliable (they are based on the BARB weekly top 10s, meaning he includes 65 matches from 2012 but only 50 from 2014, despite Sky televising an additional 13 matches in 2014 due to the addition of Catalan home games).

Never, he'd never twist stats to suit a lifelong agenda.

Waiting 2 minute for a decision that could be made in 2 seconds?

This isn't a like for like comparison.
The big games at the end of season are included in the annual averages but the to date 2015 figures don't show them yet.
So it's an indicator but it doesn't show a reduction yet.

Quote ="William Eve"*source = www.barb.co.uk (Weekly> Top 10s) 2007: 7,262k/44 = 165k average 2008: 7,552k/48 = 157k average 2009: 8,555k/56 = 153k average 2010: 9,590k/60 = 160k average 2011: 9,138k/56 = 163k average 2012: 10,975k/65= 169k average 2013: 9,698k/63 = 154k average 2014: 6,754k/50 = 135k average =#FF00002015: 4,241k/37 = 114k average <----- down by over 15% [u2014[/u Thurs: 1,886k/15 = 126k average Fri: 3,179k/20 = 159k average Sat: 1,373k/13 = 106k average Sun: 316k/2 = 158k average ----------------------------------------- TOTAL: 6,754k/50 = 135k average ----------------------------------------- [u2015[/u Thurs: 1,517k/14 = 108k average <----- down by 14% Fri: 2,204k/16 = 137k average <----- down by 14% Sat: 450k/6 = 75k average <----- down by 29% Mon: 70k/1 = 70k average ------------------------------------------ TOTAL: 4,241K/37 = 114k average <----- down by over 15% ------------------------------------------ Moonie Magic 2014: 832k/6 = 139k average Moonie Magic 2015: 768k/6 = 128k average <----- down by 8% As there appears to be no thread on SL attendances, I'll assume they are down also. You're welcome.'" What do you expect - the quality on the field has descended to such a level that true apathy has set in. Add to that the awful commentary and a serious review is required. Wakefield have shown "Every minute matters" is complete b0ll0cks. Hopefully the games after the break will yield greater intensity and competitiveness. The standards are the moment are truly dire only surpassed by the dismal presentation of the Sky team.

Quote ="William Eve"*source = www.barb.co.uk (Weekly> Top 10s) 2007: 7,262k/44 = 165k average 2008: 7,552k/48 = 157k average 2009: 8,555k/56 = 153k average 2010: 9,590k/60 = 160k average 2011: 9,138k/56 = 163k average 2012: 10,975k/65= 169k average 2013: 9,698k/63 = 154k average 2014: 6,754k/50 = 135k average =#FF00002015: 4,241k/37 = 114k average <----- down by over 15% [u2014[/u Thurs: 1,886k/15 = 126k average Fri: 3,179k/20 = 159k average Sat: 1,373k/13 = 106k average Sun: 316k/2 = 158k average ----------------------------------------- TOTAL: 6,754k/50 = 135k average ----------------------------------------- [u2015[/u Thurs: 1,517k/14 = 108k average <----- down by 14% Fri: 2,204k/16 = 137k average <----- down by 14% Sat: 450k/6 = 75k average <----- down by 29% Mon: 70k/1 = 70k average ------------------------------------------ TOTAL: 4,241K/37 = 114k average <----- down by over 15% ------------------------------------------ Moonie Magic 2014: 832k/6 = 139k average Moonie Magic 2015: 768k/6 = 128k average <----- down by 8% As there appears to be no thread on SL attendances, I'll assume they are down also. You're welcome.'" What do you expect - the quality on the field has descended to such a level that true apathy has set in. Add to that the awful commentary and a serious review is required. Wakefield have shown "Every minute matters" is complete b0ll0cks. Hopefully the games after the break will yield greater intensity and competitiveness. The standards are the moment are truly dire only surpassed by the dismal presentation of the Sky team.

Let's not forget as well that people are turning away from sky in their droves. BT are hitting them hard with the champions league and general sports package and a lot of people want top class fibre optic internet now, something which sky can't currently offer - they can only offer about 40gb atm.

I don't think the level of quality has dropped overall over the years, if you look back over many years of SL and look past the top 4 clubs.

What has changed is the style the game is played in. You watch a game and it's so heavily centred around how slowly a team can slow the PTB down and spoiling tactics used to do that. People should watch some games from the 00's and watch and compare the tackles/PTB's then to stuff we have today. I'm think Brian Carney is on to something with the reduction of interchanging and the positive effect it'll have on all this 3 man tackles/spoiling tactics.

As for every minute matters, we'll just because Wakey threw the towel in doesnt mean it's been a failure or isn't true. Only at the end of the split and at the end of the season will you know what last minute try helped you/cost you what spot.

I agree the Sky presentation needs a big kick up the backside. Seems like they're going through the motions and Wells and Carney the only ones looking passionate about what they're doing. A clearing out/freshening up of presenters/presentation would be welcomed by just about everyone.

The standard has definitely taken a dip - the quality of the basic skills like passing, catching and kicking are not what they were. You cannot take all the best players out i.e. the NRL players and expect the standards not to be affected.

We have reduced the interchanges from 12 to 10 and the wrestle has got worse. We have more players in the tackle but we don't the halves and three quarters to exploit the extra space.

The every minute counts is no different to any other season if we take your maxim of how you determine its relevance.

What we see is more conservative play and less enterprise simply because we haven't got the quality of player to use individual brilliance to decide games. Oh for a Danny Buderus, Jamie Lyon, Brad Godden, Greg Bird, Stacey Jones, Trent Barrett etc.

Were Wigan AS A TEAM at their best during the Trent Barrett years? Catalans with Stacey Jones? Leeds during Buderus' spell? No.

I watch team sports for team performances, not individual performances.

If you think that changing the league format to a system which will probably confuse the casual viewer, and reducing the amount of teams in the elite competition would spark an increase in viewing figures, your sadly mistaken. I'm not so surprised that viewing figures are down - the poor referring displays and the awful commentary no doubt played a part as well as BT becoming a more attractive option to Sky.

I'm also willing to bet that viewing figures will decrease next year and the year after.

Not sure about live attendances though, but I doubt there has been a positive change in the the decreasing trend.

I've recently moved and didn't take sky got VM instead and I can't say I miss watching the SL I'd much rather watch NRL on premier sports much more entertaining and much better commentary, not as if the games have gotten worse I don't think but you know who's going to win the matches which get shown very rare for an upset to happen but when you look at the NRL Penrith who do finished in the top 4 last year are now in 9th and Canterbury and manly are further down manly are bottom it seems much more open between the teams where SL is a bit Boeing and predictable now I think. Coupled with the high price and sky some have mentions then it's really not worth it for some.

Leeds with Buderus won the GF not sure what more you want when watching a team same goes for Saints with Lyon they actually won the double with Lyon in the team.

Barrett was the best player in SL during his time here so again not sure what more you want? Are you saying you would rather watch Ian kirke in a good Leeds side than Danny Buderus in a less good one?

droves you say? Away you say?

[urlhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/04/sky-profits-rise-uk-and-germany-pay-tv[/url
[urlhttp://www.wsj.com/articles/sky-earnings-boosted-by-subscriber-growth-in-u-k-germany-1429608660[/url

Hmmmm.......

Has that just seriously been written by the same guy who described both '11 and '12 GF wins as "papering over cracks" and had zero interest in us winning the CC last year? That 2011 Leeds season we were floundering around 7th/8th spot at this point in the season, this year we are 1st. Did you enjoy/think that was better simply because you got to watch Buderus play in an under performing team?



No I'm saying exactly what I wrote (funny that you always struggle to comprehend that and think I'm saying something else). I don't watch just because of one or two individuals, I watch team performances in a team sport.

It seems to me that this season, Sky are spending less and less on the broadcast of RL in general. Take boots 'n all for example. They are now filming it in the sky canteen with 1 guest summariser per week. Also Superleague full time has done away with the presenters and is just like the NRL highlights show. All this at a time when BT sport dedicate a lot of resources to a union magazine show. I think some chairman were right to criticise the speed at which the RFL accepted the Sky deal.

They were very wise to do so. Given that it was them that voted with such haste to accept it.

Anyways, the falling viewing figures won't be a bad thing if it hammers home to Sky that they need, to re-brand, promote and above all get rid of some of the dead wood whose voices we hear week in, week out (yes, Messrs Clarke, Cummings, Stevenson and O'Connor, it's you!).