DHL Stormers vs Ulster Rugby
Official Matchday programme for the URC Final Four DHL Stormers vs Ulster Rugby Saturday 11th June | Kick-Off 3pm SAST | DHL Stadium
Official Matchday programme for the URC Final Four
DHL Stormers vs Ulster Rugby
Saturday 11th June | Kick-Off 3pm SAST | DHL Stadium
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FINAL FOUR<br />
<strong>DHL</strong> STORMERS VS ULSTER<br />
URC NEWS<br />
MORE FANS WATCHING THE<br />
URC THAN EVER BEFORE<br />
More fans are watching the United <strong>Rugby</strong> Championship than ever<br />
before the world’s most diverse and exciting club rugby competition<br />
continues to set new records for broadcast audiences.<br />
B<br />
y the end of the Round<br />
12 fixtures the URC<br />
broke the league’s<br />
previous benchmark of<br />
12.9million viewers with<br />
13.2million tuning in and now by the<br />
end of April that figure has climbed<br />
dramatically to over 20.1million!<br />
The consolidated audience data<br />
(supplied by Nielsen Sports)<br />
suggests that the audiences will<br />
strengthen even further by the<br />
end of the campaign with Rounds<br />
17, 18 and the Play-Offs still to be<br />
accounted for.<br />
The URC averages well over 1<br />
million viewers per round and is<br />
supported by the wide array of<br />
broadcast partnerships across<br />
the league’s core territories. With<br />
a mix of Free-to-Air and Pay TV<br />
broadcasters, the URC is available<br />
on BBC Northern Ireland, BBC<br />
Wales, RTÉ, TG4, Mediaset,<br />
Premier Sports and SuperSport<br />
who have driven up the audience<br />
numbers thanks to the high levels<br />
of coverage and their commitment<br />
to showcasing the crosshemisphere<br />
competition.<br />
Martin Anayi , CEO of the United<br />
<strong>Rugby</strong> Championship, said:<br />
“These broadcast audiences<br />
provide a terrific pulse check for the<br />
United <strong>Rugby</strong> Championship. More<br />
eyeballs on our games translates into<br />
increased talkability of the league<br />
which is really evident across social<br />
media where we are exceeding all of<br />
our growth ambitions.<br />
“Ultimately, the excitement on the<br />
pitch coupled to the intrigue of the<br />
big four South African teams joining<br />
the league has provided a great<br />
draw but it’s been a real collaborative<br />
effort from our broadcast partners<br />
and the league to maximise that<br />
interest. Internally, we have invested<br />
in personnel and resources to drive<br />
up the look and feel of our TV<br />
product and we are really excited<br />
about how our broadcast partners<br />
have bought into that vision.<br />
“We know fans in the UK and<br />
Ireland were excited about their<br />
teams being back on RTÉ and BBC<br />
and in tandem with TG4 and S4C<br />
they are offering more Free-to-Air<br />
coverage. Premier Sport, without<br />
whom we would not have been able<br />
to adopt the ‘every game live’ model,<br />
have seen their viewership increase<br />
and in South Africa SuperSport are<br />
setting a high bar in showcasing the<br />
URC to one of the biggest markets<br />
in our league.<br />
“What’s just as encouraging is<br />
that in Italy, thanks to Mediaset’s<br />
coverage, where we have hit 1 million<br />
viewers for the first time ever. When<br />
you combine all of this then you can<br />
see really strong foundations for<br />
the URC to build from and continue<br />
to grow the interest in our sport<br />
ahead of what appears to be an<br />
unpredictable end to the season.”<br />
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