An analysis of broadcasting and attendance in the Australian football industry

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business.This thesis explores the commercial elements of broadcasting and match attendance within the Australian football industry. Existing literature surrounding Australian sport broadcasting was identified as largely conceptual by nature, with a corresponding gap in practical discussion and application. A potential lack of access to appropriate data was identified as accounting for this gap, which was addressed in this thesis through collaboration with the NRL and its research partner, Repucom International. As such, this thesis marks one of the first attempts to utilise an exhaustive quantitative dataset to explore broadcast ratings and attendances in an Australian sport context. An inductive research approach, utilising a multiple case study design, was adopted to resolve the main research aim and goals. Specifically, the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) formed the central cases of analysis. The sample period spanned five seasons, from 2007 to 2011, and encapsulated a total of 2,297 fixtures. Television ratings data, incorporating an array of geographic and demographic variables, was originally sourced from research firms OzTAM and Regional TAM, while attendance data was created through in-house NRL reconciliation against stadium figures and publicly available information. Results indicated a demarcation of viewer loyalty to each code based on geographic boundaries, consistent with the existing notion of “the Barassi line”. Both codes were shown to be largely reliant on traditional markets for driving television viewership figures, with little evidence to suggest either code expanded its national reach during the period, despite vastly contrasting broadcast strategies. A gender imbalance in viewership was also identified. However, this was shown to be potentially smaller than the pre-existing academic and societal conception of a stereotypical football audience would suggest. The study also found there to be disparity in the levels of intra-club broadcast coverage in both leagues, which was likely to impact the value of respective club sponsorships. While broadcasters illustrated a preference for specific teams, selections were largely justified on the basis of audience ‘pulling power’, which was shown to vary between clubs in both leagues. Stemming from the key findings and corresponding discussion, the thesis provided a significant contribution to the literature. The practical, quantitative nature of the research not only advanced existing conceptual research, but also provided a basis from which further research and discussion can be facilitated

Evaluating Broadcast Strategy: the Case of Australian Football

The central aim this paper is to evaluate the broadcast strategies of Australia's two leading commercial sports, the Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL), through a quantitative analysis of television ratings during the period 2007 to 2011. Specifically, the research is focused on assessing the degree of exclusivity and geographic reach embedded within each of the sports broadcast agreements. In doing so, the research considers the impact of strategy in providing value to the broadcasters and teams as well as utility to fans of each league within the framework of Noll’s broadcasting principles

Consumer behaviour toward a new league and teams: television audiences as a measure of market acceptance

© 2020, European Association for Sport Management. Research question: Research into new sport teams has maintained a narrow focus on season ticket holders. This is redressed in this study by determining whether immediate preferences towards new local teams can be observed in the broader viewing behaviour of the general population within local markets. The consumption of new sport teams is then tracked longitudinally to understand the influence of consumer novelty on market behaviour. Research methods: The study analysed television ratings data of a new Australian cricket league. The period of analysis spanned five seasons from 2013/2014 through to 2017/2018. Data analysis included independent samples t-tests and hierarchical linear modelling. Results and findings: Each local market exhibited an immediate preference for their local team. Local viewing preference for local teams did not grow over time, with the relative audience of local and non-local team fixtures increasing proportionally over the period. The league appears to be towards the end of its novelty phase, evidenced by a stabilisation in viewing commitment yet retraction in base audience size between season three and five. Implications: The ability of new teams to solicit immediate local viewing preferences within the general population confirms the salience of geography as a foundational component of team identity. New teams should strategically consider their alignment to a suburban, city, state, or regional identity. That preference towards local teams did not increase within local markets reflects a critical theoretic distinction from more identified fan segments in which connection to team is thought to typically grow over time

Human impact on the transport of terrigenous and anthropogenic elements to peri-alpine lakes (Switzerland) over the last decades

Terrigenous (Sc, Fe, K, Mg, Al, Ti) and anthropogenic (Pb and Cu) element fluxes were measured in a new sediment core from Lake Biel (Switzerland) and in previously well-documented cores from two upstream lakes (Lake Brienz and Lake Thun). These three large peri-alpine lakes are connected by the Aare River, which is the main tributary to the High Rhine River. Major and trace element analysis of the sediment cores by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) shows that the site of Lake Brienz receives three times more terrigenous elements than the two other studied sites, given by the role of Lake Brienz as the first major sediment sink located in the foothills of the Alps. Overall, the terrigenous fluxes reconstructed at the three studied sites suggest that the construction of sediment-trapping reservoirs during the twentieth century noticeably decreased the riverine suspended sediment load at a regional scale. In fact, the extensive river damming that occurred in the upstream watershed catchment (between ca. 1930 and 1950 and up to 2300 m a.s.l.) and that significantly modified seasonal suspended sediment loads and riverine water discharge patterns to downstream lakes noticeably diminished the long-range transport of (fine) terrigenous particles by the Aare River. Concerning the transport of anthropogenic pollutants, the lowest lead enrichment factors (EFs Pb) were measured in the upstream course of the Aare River at the site of Lake Brienz, whereas the metal pollution was highest in downstream Lake Biel, with the maximum values measured between 1940 and 1970 (EF Pb >3). The following recorded regional reduction in aquatic Pb pollution started about 15 years before the actual introduction of unleaded gasoline in 1985. Furthermore, the radiometric dating of the sediment core from Lake Biel identifies three events of hydrological transport of artificial radionuclides released by the nuclear reactor of Mühleberg located at more than 15 km upstream of Lake Biel for the time period 1970 to 200