Varsity Cup TV numbers down …

As we ease into the Varsity Shield final tonight – a game that decides who the Ikeys will play in a promotion / relegation match in the curtain raiser to the Varsity Cup final next Monday, below an audience analysis of the live Television coverage of all 2012 Varsity Cup games broadcast on SuperSport, courtesy of Repucom SA.

Period: February –March 2012
No. Games: 14 (of 30 games played to date)
Data Source: DSTVi 2011/ 2012 (Target – All 4+)
The above numbers showing a fairly low average audience per game, a fragmentation of audiences given the broadcast of Binneland and Villa Rosa on kykNet at the same time, and a low level of audience duplication across games played on the same date, showing that viewers follow specific teams.

And in comparison to last year:

Showing a drop in numbers and a fairly low cumulative and per-game average audience.

The below graph seems to suggest a fairly serious viewership migration to programmes broadcast on kykNet and M-Net , with over 18% of the viewers that watched the UCT v Tuks game also watching Grey’s Anatomy and close on 12% also watching Villa Rosa on kykNet.Anyone spot the difference between the two audiences? English / Afrikaans split much? Just saying … Although it could be a good stat to bring up when at the pub with a Matie …I am sure it did not help the cause that the Ikeys crashed and burned this year, the Cape being traditionally a very strong supporter of all things sport … But perhaps the head honchos at Varsity Cup should base their TV schedule on what they think might happen going forward, rather than what happened in the previous year?

6 Comments

  1. Games showed was being calculated by last years team standings.
    That said they tend to show the top teams playing against the bottom teams and not the top teams playing each other.
    Maybe they wanted to give teams like PE and TUT ect tv time but nobody want to watch that.

    1. Yep, Generaal, the TV schedule is based completely on the previous year’s performance … Not being able to dictate terms to SuperSport, they have to fix the TV schedule before the season, and are not able to pick and choose the best games of the week

    1. And Binnelanders and Villa Rose? …. It’s the UCT supporters who ran for the “Grey’s cover” as soon as their team started losing ….

  2. Who represents the Total Available Audience = Total DSTv subscribers (Premium Package) Maybe a lot of not rugby watchers signed up and rather watched the other programs

    1. Absolutely Riaan, but I think the point is that anyone with a DSTV decoder COULD have watched the rugby and thus have to be included in a potential audience. But yes, a bit like saying that anyone living in Cape Town is a potential ticket buyer at Newlands!

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