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URC breaks audience and attendance records
By Ian Cameron
The United Rugby Championship (URC) have confirmed that for the third consecutive season they have set new records in both attendance and broadcast viewership.
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The 2023/24 season attracted a total audience of 47.7 million, surpassing the previous record of 37.4 million set in 2023.
Round 11 saw 3.4 million viewers even though it came in a break weekend in the Guinness Six Nations. This was one of seven rounds with audiences exceeding 2.5 million. The seven-game play-off series drew 4.7 million viewers, with an average of 671,428 per game.
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The Bulls’ semi-final match against Leinster attracted 947,589 viewers, while their final against Glasgow Warriors was watched by 1.1 million.
“In three seasons the Grand Final has produced two away winners, our Play-Offs continue to deliver surprise results and nearly half of our games are decided by seven points or less – a feat no other club competition can match in this past season,” said URC CEO Martin Anayi. “All of this feeds into the appeal of the BKT URC as we aim to grow the competition and the sport. To break the previous broadcast record by 10 million is a staggering achievement and pays testament to the superb product on the pitch and the high levels of coverage provided by our broadcasters.
“There has never been as much buzz about the BKT URC and our clubs, players, coaches and broadcasters deserve huge appreciation for making it what it is today.”
The league also reported significant growth in international viewership, with overseas audiences increasing by 138 per cent to 6.2 million. Attendance figures showed a 3 per cent increase, reaching a total of 1.69 million, with an average of 11,200 per game. Round 9 set a new record for single-round attendance, with 146,000 fans across games in Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales.
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“There is more collaboration happening between the clubs, the league, the broadcasters and commercial partners to promote our games and attract fans to venues. Across the board all of our clubs have made strides to innovate and improve their match-day experiences and as a result supporters are now enjoying a day out that goes beyond the 80 minutes of play.
“With a number of teams upgrading their stadiums over the next 18 months we believe that these numbers will continue to rise in the long-term with some great examples of best practice being deployed across all of our territories.”
Yes, I can really see where you’re coming from. Saying “Hardly anyone in Wales is interested in the regional teams and where they sit in the lower half of the table doesn't really matter that much” sounds so much more respectful and overwhelmingly positive.
And of course, citing a quote with the clear sentiment that SA teams have left better behind and found their level in the URC absolutely falls into that same bracket. For sure, no doubt whatsoever. It’s respect on a plate!
Enjoy your leisure, whatever else you do with it…
Ps I see you forgot to comment on the current merits of the Kiwi teams…again!!!
I wasn't going to reply to you but since you have misquoted me and misrepresented what I was saying I will set the record straight.
Here is what I actually said, an unedited copy paste of my entire post.
“It's all a matter of priorities. Hardly anyone in Wales is interested in the regional teams and where they sit in the lower half of the table doesn't really matter that much. I get that Peel has to look after himself but it's the national team that the success of Welsh rugby depends on. Ireland have their priorities right from top to bottom of the pyramid and the results speak for themselves.”
So I was saying that the strategic success of Welsh rugby will be down to the results of its national team, not the results its pro clubs. (And that the grass roots and pathways have to be healthy for sustainable test success.) Nothing to do with their relative strength versus kiwi teams, indeed I have made the same point elsewhere about the All Blacks v our Super teams. The only comparison made was to Ireland!
As I said under that article, people are free to disagree with that logic. I debate with a lot of people who disagree with me - including everyone else who replied to me under this article - and I hope they enjoy the experience as I do.
However I find your continuous baseless accusations unpleasant and replying to you is a poor use of my leisure time. So forgive me if I want to simply deal with them and move on to the vast majority of people who wish to debate in good spirit.
The sad thing is that myself and the responses in general under this article have been overwhelmingly positive towards the URC yet here we are.
Would that be ‘baseless accusations’ along the lines of, and I quote, “welsh teams that no one wants to watch or cares where they finish in the league”? Or implying that Kiwi teams are superior opposition to URC teams?
As ever, no meaningful response from you to the substantive points. But hey, what’s new…
The big picture is that this is a day of celebration, not wasting time on your usual unpleasant, baseless accusations when everyone else is talking rugby in good spirit.
Please ignore my posts from now on, this is a bad use of my leisure time.
So you’re silent on the current state of play in SRP then, can’t say I’m surprised really! Whatever way you slice it, that statement has a condescending tone towards the URC teams and doesn’t take account of the current dynamics in comparing the leagues. Why do you think rugby fans are happy to engage with the URC to the levels outlined in the story and yet SR was turning fans off? At best, it’s a lazy comparison.
If I were you, I’d be way more focussed on your, “big picture thinking” I think you called it, on how the impact of the Boks moving north will play out! At that point NZ and Aus really do have to figure out how to make things work with Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Japan. From a playing and commercial perspective. Good luck with that…
Will be interesting to see how all of this plays forward, SA teams will only become more embedded in NH as their teams gain additional EPCR rights and it does open up the question on the Boks following suit. The implications of that move, if it ever comes to pass, should be really quite sobering for NZR and Rugby Australia! You really have to question how well thought through their plan was…
It wasn’t thought through at all Ed. They saw an opportunity to blackmail SA Rugby to prevent them from having 4 franchises in Super Rugby and 4 in the URC and took it knowing they had the Silver Lake equity money and guaranteed government bailout money of $28.16 million to see them through the pandemic.
I don’t think World Rugby would ever allow SA to leave the Rugby Champs. If I was CEO of World Rugby I wouldn’t allow it. Not good for the global game.
Our plan? SA were threatening to walk away for years on top of the fact that most of their top players were playing in Europe or Japan already - the spectacle was terrible leading into COVID with the conference system and lack of competitiveness.
Yes, we have big problems down under but this narrative about poor old SA being kicked out is nonsense - SA were finally nudged after threatening to jump for years.
URC is very healthy and all the matches are generally a great watch.
Leinster, Glasgow ane Teviso have the backbone of their national teams. Very pleasing to see Treviso progress.
I loved the Lions attack this year, and I think we are going to see a higher proportion of competitive games between the big teams and SA teams home and away this year.
Between the big teams and SA teams. SA teams are small teams in your mind?
That's the great thing about the URC. Good competition for test players without playing too many games and good cohesion for the national teams.
Imagine the tv audience if it wasn't pay walled.
If I use the same numbers that the Top14 got being broadcast free to air in SA, it would be an additional 300k to 350k per game across the season just from SA. Semis & finals along with the Stormers vs Bulls games would be in the same ballpark with test matches for number of viewers.
All Irish matches free to air for us in Ireland. Big audience as the sport watching TV audience is big and the entertainment good. I catch the remainder on Youtube highlights.
Its a growing league with growing ambition and plenty of good rugby. They will continue to grow next year especially with the TV audience
True. Love the unpredictability of the URC. Winners from three different countries the last three years. Healthy competition.
I enjoyed the old Super 12 but I must say it was a blessing in disguise when Nz/covid kicked us out of the the modern super comp. Better money and time zones . The Irish nowadays are just as good as the All Black players anyways for most part, so we stay sharp enough with them as our main competition. Heck, even Glasgow played some seriously good rugby. Fiji and Samoa will grow massively with Super rugby, so it’s a win win. I just can’t understand why oh why they kicked Argentina out of Super? They were going so well. They should bring them back in.
Worked out well for you in lots of ways. Victor Matfield pointed out recently that with so many Springboks playing overseas these days they couldn't have coped against the kiwi teams but the URC is about the right level.
Unfortunately Argentina wouldn't be able to afford to bring home their top players.
‘Even Glasgow’. How pathetically condescending can you be…
As for Argentina, you answered your own question already, if you look hard enough!