‘Devalues the future of cricket rights’: How two-day Tests may dent next broadcast deal
Games that wrap up long before they are scheduled to have a significant financial impact on stakeholders such as Channel Seven and the Big Bash League.
‘Devalues the future of cricket rights’: How two-day Tests may dent next broadcast deal
Two-day Ashes Tests in Melbourne and Perth are seismic events that may put a significant dent in Cricket Australia’s next media rights deals if broadcasters decide they can’t rely on matches running their full length.
That’s the view of media rights expert Colin Smith, as CA, the Melbourne Cricket Club and broadcasters continue to pick up the pieces from a Boxing Day Test that was enormously popular but ended well before the scheduled halfway mark.
“This Ashes is the biggest event of every four years, so losing days from that as a premier property also devalues the future of cricket rights,” Smith told this masthead. “You will project a different view, based on what we’ve seen, for how long a Test match is.
The Australians were overjoyed at snaring Joe Root’s wicket on Boxing Day.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“Because we are a discreet market in terms of Test cricket still being dominant, especially the Ashes and India, if this is going to be less playing time, they’re going to pay less, significantly less.
“When you start doing your maths on this, if you’re reducing your total audience you can sell to premium sponsors, that’s a fairly significant effect, and Test cricket in Australia still dominates the broadcast market, no question of that.”
While Foxtel and Kayo may be hurt by short Test matches in terms of subscriber churn, free-to-air broadcaster Seven is the biggest loser in terms of losing hundreds of valuable advertising slots that must be compensated for.
Fans queue up outside the ’G on Boxing Day.Credit: Getty Images
“They’ve got a twofold issue. More than likely, their sponsors would’ve had the usual clauses in their contracts for ‘makegood’, and the makegood of this will be huge,” Smith said. “You’ve got six hours of play lost yesterday and today.
“You’d think between Perth and Melbourne you’d get an average of three days [play] but you haven’t, so the makegood for that will be very significant. Not only do they have to replace the ad, but they’ve got to put it on at an equivalent ratings time slot.
